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PAUL REVERE 

THE TORCH BEARER OF THE REVOLUTION 



BY 

BELLE MOSES 

„^"Tr>TTia»M ALCOTT." "lewis CABBOLL, 
AUTHOR OF LOUISA M. AL.>-uii, ^^ 

"CHABLE8 DICKENS, ETC. 




ILLUSTRATED 



D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

NEW YORK LONDON 

1916 






COPTHIQHT, 1916, BY 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 



ji 



f ... , 

Q(iT 301916 



Printed in the United States of America 



>aA446175 



"as 



TO ALL 
SONS OF LIBERTY 



FOREWORD 

It has been wisely said that Time must lay a finger 
on events to make them into history. The further 
away we stand from certain pictures, the more dis- 
tinct they appear. The events we read of in today's 
newspaper are not history, but twenty years, or 
fifty, or a century hence, our descendants will pore 
over the musty, dusty files, and history will be born. 

Paul Revere never imagined that he was living in 
an epoch-making period ; yet the story of his eventful 
life holds a fascination of its own, appealing strongly 
to the interest of readers, old and young. He stood 
for so much in the history of our country in those 
stirring Revolutionary times, that we cannot lightly 
pass over the many services he rendered to the cause 
of Liberty. 

With the heart of a boy and the soul of a patriot, 
Paul Revere's watchword in those dark days was: 
" Prepare ! Look to your arms and your ammuni- 
tion, gather your stores and provisions; set your 
houses in order for the enemy is upon you ! " And 
he mounted his big gray horse and carried the mes- 
sage like those swift runners in the Scottish hills — 



viii FOREWORD 

who bore the flaming torch, that fiery call to arms, 
from clan to clan. 

Yet this was but one side of his character. He 
had wit, sagacity, courage and loyalty to overbal- 
ance his rash spirit and somewhat fiery temper. 
Added to which he was a mechanical genius rarely 
to be found in those times and rare enough even in 
these more modern days. 

Above all, he was a man of the People, that great 
body of men who — then as now — formed the back- 
bone of this nation. Through his long and useful 
life he never forgot this fact, and though his family 
in past generations could show a coat-of-arms, a 
seal and crest and other insignia of gentle birth, 
Paul Revere was content to be known as a Master 
Mechanic, a Citizen of Boston, and a true Son of 
Liberty. 



PAUL REVERE 




On, on tlie good horse galloped, his rider shouting his 
message as he went. 

[Page no] 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I How THE Reveres Came to Boston . •• rr . 3 

II A Son of Liberty • • 25 

III Boston's Biggest Tea Party 41 

IV The Times Which Made the Man ... 69 
V. The Story of the Ride 91 

VI Who Hung the Signal Lanterns? . . .123 

VII Across the River > • i39 

VIII Gunpowder 155 

IX The Penobscot Expedition . . . . . .171 

X " Jack of All Trades " 189 

XI Copper Rolling and the Frigate Consti- 
tution 211 

XII Friends and Associates .... r. . • 229 

XIII A Ripe Old Age . . . > r.i >- ..> . . 247 

XIV A Memory . . . >. >, :.i w x w r.^ . 259 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



" On, on the good horse galloped, his rider ^ 

shouting his message as he went" . . Frontispiece 

FACING 
PAGE 

Engraving of the Boston Massacre by Paul Revere . 46 

" Incoming ships brought fresh regiments instead of 
produce to the starving Boston people " . . . .86 

" It must have been a breathless crossing "... 106 

" ' By the trembling ladder so steep and tall '' 

To the highest window in the wall ' " . . . . 128 

Portrait of Sir Wilbraham Wentworth, engraved by 
Paul Revere 192 

Paul Revere's House on North Square 250 

The Gilbert Stuart Portrait of Paul Revere . . .264 '-- 



I 

HOW THE REVERES CAME TO BOSTON 



HOW THE REVERES CAME TO BOSTON 

IN those stormy days in France during the reign 
of Henry III, his ruthless mother, Catharine 
de Medici, who held the reins of government 
for her weak son, hounded out of the kingdom a 
band of heroic men and women known as the 
Huguenots, who took refuge in the unknown wilder- 
ness called America. Among these fugitives were 
the Rivoires, driven from their country by religious 
persecution in 1685. They had no more idea that 
they were making history than did Paul Revere 
ninety years afterwards, when he took that mid- 
night ride through the Middlesex country. 

These poor Huguenot Rivoires thought only of 
getting out of turbulent France in time to save their 
heads. They scattered, with other fugitives, into 
many countries. England and Holland sheltered 
some of them, and Simon de Rivoire settled on the 
Island of Guernsey in the English Channel, having 

3 



PAUL REVERE 

taken care, in his flight, to preserve the family arms 
and crest in a seal. 

His brother Isaac stayed on in some remote part 
of France, being a married man with a family of 
several children. One of these, Apollos de Ri voire, 
born 1702, was sent at an early age — he was just 
thirteen — to his Uncle Simon at Guernsey, but very 
soon after his arrival his uncle sent him to Boston 
in America, and as he was old enough to learn a 
trade, the boy was apprenticed to a goldsmith. His 
master died before he had served the required num- 
ber of years, but as the lad was nearly twenty at 
the time there is every reason to suppose that he was 
an able craftsman. 

After a visit to his relatives in Guernsey, he de- 
cided to make his home in Boston, and the very 
first thing he did was to turn his French name into 
one that could be more readily pronounced by the 
English tongue ; so Monsieur Apollos de Rivoire be- 
came simply Mr, Paul Revere. 

As soon as he had taken up the business of gold 
and silversmith, he married Miss Deborah Hitch- 
born, in 1729, and the third of his twelve children 
was the Paul Revere we know in history, born on 

4 



HOW THE REVERES CAME TO BOSTON 

January i, 1735, though the older records say De- 
cember 21, 1734. 

At any rate he came into the world a well-born, 
well-provisioned little boy whose lusty growth gave 
promise of strength and endurance — a little boy 
who had a good will of his own from the very first, 
as well as an artistic gift inherited from his father. 

The Revere household differed in many ways 
from the Puritan households in Old Boston. The 
Huguenots came of a happier race than the stern 
Pilgrim Fathers. Their French blood flowed more 
quickly in their veins; they were light-hearted and 
cheerful, and it is to be supposed that childhood was 
not the stunted thing in Paul Revere's home that 
it was in the homes of some of his austere neighbors. 
Nevertheless the elder Revere had strong religious 
ideas — it was for that, indeed, that his kindred had 
been driven out of France — but the God he wor- 
shiped was not the jealous terrible God of the 
Puritans, whose awful presence dominated home 
and church and school ; though doubtless little Paul 
had reason to tremble on his school bench along with 
the browbeaten Janes and Jerushas, Williams and 
Qiarleses of his day. The Huguenots believed in 

5 



PAUL REVERE 

mirth and good living, and the Puritans seldom 
smiled. The grammar school which Paul attended 
was kept by Master John Tileston, a schoolmaster 
in Boston for eighty years, and famed more es- 
pecially for his teaching of penmanship. 

The colonial schools in New England were pretty 
much alike — a big bare room with a stove in the 
middle, the teacher's high desk at one end, and the 
seats — low benches the length and thickness of a 
plank of wood — ranged round the room. The 
building was usually of logs and stood on blocks 
about two and a half feet from the ground, the space 
underneath forming a convenient rendezvous for 
hogs and poultry. Probably in well-to-do Boston 
the accommodations were a little better, but luxury 
or even comfort was the last thing considered in the 
New England schools. In many of them there were 
no glass window-panes, paper being used instead, and 
this was greased with lard to make it transparent. 
One cannot help wondering what would have hap- 
pened had the big stove given out enough heat to 
sizzle the grease on the windows; the ambitious 
colonial children would have felt like prisoners in 
a frying pan. 

6 



HOW THE REVERES CAME TO BOSTON 

These schools had neither blackboards nor maps, 
though some of the better class occasionally boasted 
a globe. Slates were not used in Paul Revere's 
day; even the smallest children wrote with pen and 
ink. The pens were goose quills, and the teacher 
was obliged to mend them constantly. The ink was 
homemade; the writing paper at best was very 
rough and dark, and so expensive that the poorer 
children wrote and ciphered on birch bark. In pre- 
paring for writing the children ruled the paper them- 
selves, with lead plummets, for there were no lead 
pencils at that period. These plummets were merely 
pieces of sheet lead, and sometimes the lead was 
melted, run into a wooden mold, and later smoothed 
out with a jackknife. The favorite shape was a 
tomahawk, for menacing Indians suggested these 
dreadful weapons. Paul Revere, no doubt, early 
showed signs of talent for drawing, managing his 
ruler and plummet, his pen and ink, with a skill 
worthy of his father's son ; but unfortunately there 
is little record of those early days. 

In the schools were enacted many of the tragedies 
of childhood, for the punishments for the most 
trivial offense were bestowed with inconceivable 

7 



PAUL REVERE 

cruelty upon the small offenders. The ferule was 
in constant use — and the whipping post was some- 
times set up in the middle of the schoolroom for 
greater convenience. It was easier to tie a boy there 
and flog him than to lay him across the knee — and 
one could strike harder, besides. 

History does not record this part of Paul Revere's 
education. Doubtless he was no better nor worse 
than other boys and took his chances with the rest. 
Let us imagine, too, that he learned his catechism 
with the others, a gloomy catechism that told of 
hell and damnation and the terrible punishments 
meted out to the wrongdoer, compared with which 
the ferule and the birch switch were mere play- 
things. 

However, the sturdy youngster survived the tor- 
tures of the schoolroom. Probably had he been 
questioned as to his school experiences he would 
have answered as the Frenchman did when asked 
how he spent his days during the terrors of the 
Revolution. " I lived," was the reply ; and young 
Paul not only lived but throve. 

His boyhood was a stirring period in history. 
Little by little King George was putting the colonists 

8 



HOW THE REVERES CAME TO BOSTON 

under his heel. In the mother country the Ameri- 
cans were looked upon as little better than slaves 
or convicts, for though reports of their prosperity 
and their industry had gone across the water, the 
majority of English people could not picture 
America as other than a wilderness. The idea of 
Boston as a thriving city never entered their minds, 
and that they had to deal with men of determina- 
tion, brains, and brawn was the very last thing they 
imagined. Naturally, the discontent among the 
colonists spread to their children, and crept in at the 
school door. 

Among the schoolboys, party feeling ran high. 
Just as in politics to-day a young son naturally takes 
the side of his father, so in those days which heralded 
the Revolution the Whig and Tory boys took sides 
with their fathers and used their fists in many a 
battle. 

There is no doubt that Paul Revere was among 
the fighters, for the man we know and love to read 
about had a fiery temper which was always getting 
him into trouble. Still, when Paul left school and 
entered his father's service the people were loyal 
to King George, though there were mutterings 

9 



PAUL REVERE 

now and then when the provincial governor over- 
stepped his rights supported by the authority of 
the King. 

At home the thrifty goldsmith prospered at his 
trade; his shop and living rooms were under the 
same roof and many beautiful and artistic things 
were fashioned by his skillful hands. When Paul 
left school he was taken into his father's shop; 
very soon his own skillful hands found out the secret 
of the art and his beautiful tankards, spoons, cups, 
and ewers are treasured in the old Boston families. 
His engravings on silver were very beautiful and 
soon after he taught himself to engrave on copper- 
plate. As he grew older and began to take notice 
of the happenings around him, he used this knowl- 
edge for the portraying of many clever caricatures 
of scenes connected with the Revolution. While 
such men as Hancock, Adams, Patrick Henry, and 
Thomas Jefferson roused the Colonies, Paul Revere 
who had no gift of speech or power of writing 
stamped each memorable event with his graver and 
his copperplates. 

But a boy of Old Boston did not stick forever at 
his trade. Paul Revere at sixteen, broad-shouldered 

lo 



HOW THE REVERES CAME TO BOSTON 

and athletic excelled in all sports ; he could run and 
leap, he could skate and he could ride ; a horse was 
his friend and many a journey he took upon horse- 
back to the neighboring towns of Concord and Lex- 
ington. In company with his friends, he tramped 
through the woods sometimes to gather flowers, 
sometimes in the nutting season when the dried 
twigs crackled under their heels, always with a gun 
and a watchful eye on the alert for every shadow, 
for although the neighboring Indians were seem- 
ingly friendly, they were treacherous by nature and 
the New England boy at an early age learned the 
use of firearms. 

Another inseparable companion was the jackknife 
and doubtless Paul Revere whittled wonderful 
things with his clever hands, things which have not 
been handed down to us because, in the stirring life 
he led, this minor accomplishment played no part. 
Daniel Webster once said that a New England boy's 
whittling was his alphabet of mechanics. Paul 
Revere was above all other things a born mechanic, 
and the jackknife certainly played its part in giving 
to this colonial boy " a growing knowledge of ma- 
terial things " that nothing save ruminative whittling 

II 



PAUL REVERE 

and an excellent jackknife could bestow. Indeed, 
so many of the household utensils were of wood that 
the whittling boy could be made very useful. 

It must be remembered that in those days a boy 
of sixteen was nearly a man ; he was considered old 
enough to shift for himself, even to marry if he so 
desired; but just at this period of Paul Revere's life, 
fighting and war appealed to him above all else. 
There was always trouble with the Indians who 
were constantly menacing the borders, and in the 
war between England and France he joined the Eng- 
lish army under General John Winslow who led an 
expedition against the Acadians in 1755, receiving 
his commission as lieutenant from Governor Shirley 
in 1756, when he was twenty-one years old. By this 
we can see that, though of direct French origin, he 
counted himself an English subject on his mother's 
side. About this time the death of his father 
sobered the young fellow greatly, for the shop was 
then on his hands and he was the oldest son of a 
large family. 

The very next year, 1757, he married Miss Sarah 
Orne of Boston, a year younger than himself, and 
the family of Revere began to grow into a large 

12 



HOW THE REVERES CAME TO BOSTON 

one. The little Reveres came so quickly that the 
homestead was soon filled with childish voices ; but 
when, after sixteen years of married life, the faith- 
ful wife died, and Paul Revere at thirty-eight found 
himself a widower with seven children to look after, 
his shop to care for, and the political pot boiling 
merrily and brewing trouble, what more could he 
do, in the name of common sense, but marry again? 
Many have shaken their heads over the haste with 
which he got him a new wife. His first wife died 
on May 3, 1773, her baby of nine months followed 
on September 19, ard on October 10, 1773, he mar- 
ried Miss Rachel Walker, a very charming lady, ten 
years his junior, his household being " in sore need 
of a mother." In spite of what the gossips may 
have said, Paul Revere found love-making quite to 
his taste, especially as the new-made bride had a 
ready wit and a fine temper, with more than her 
share of good looks. He went a-wooing like a 
Romeo and made verses while working in his shop, 
jotting them down on the back of stray bills. The 
verse which has been preserved for us is in the 
nature of a riddle, a sort of play upon her name, and 
reads as follows: 

13 



PAUL REVERE 

Take three-fourths of a Paine that makes Traitors con- 
fess [three-fourths of Rack being Rac'] 

With three parts of a place which the Wicked don't 
Bless [three parts of Hell — Hel] 

Joyne four-sevenths of an Exercise which Shop-keepers 
use [four-sevenths of Walking — Walk] 

Add what Bad Men do, when they good actions refuse 
[Er(r)] 

These four added together with care and Art 

Will point out (direct to) the Fair One that is nearest 
my Heart. 

The four parts added together make Rachel Walker, 
who we hope appreciated the pretty compliment and 
forgave the bad verse. 

Now during the sixteen years which carried this 
young man of twenty-two to the maturity of thirty- 
eight, much had happened. We will not go into 
dry history, for everybody knows about the Stamp 
Act of 1765 which first aroused the suspicions of 
the community. Such a stampede was created by 
it and the agents who tried to enforce the law were 
so badly handled that the following year Parliament 
was forced to repeal the Act. But George III was 
so incensed with his rebellious subjects that he gladly 
sanctioned another Act which imposed a tax on 
paper, painters' colors, glass, and tea. 

14 



HOW THE REVERES CAME TO BOSTON 

This was the far-off rumble of the Revolution, 
though only one man looked further than the mo- 
ment. The colonists were loyal and had no wish 
to break with the mother country, yet they would 
not be treated like unreasoning children, and they 
determined, after enthusiastic meetings in Philadel- 
phia, Boston and New York, not to import the ar- 
ticles taxed. 

The man who, through all the upheaval and ex- 
citement, predicted separation from the mother coun- 
try and a hard fight for liberty was Samuel Adams, 
who flung himself heart and soul into the quarrel, 
and he and John Hancock became leaders of a de- 
termined band. 

To these men Paul Revere attached himself with 
the ardor of a schoolboy. He could not harangue 
the excited crowds as they did, but he could engrave 
clever caricatures showing the tyranny of England, 
and scatter them broadcast; and he could carry 
secret dispatches in a way no one could suspect ; and 
what could not be written for fear of discovery 
could be trusted verbally to a man of such sound 
sense and good memory, so swift and sure, and 
withal so honest. 

15 



PAUL REVERE 

Meanwhile, the other side of Paul Revere, the 
practical side, was busy " feathering the nest " for 
his large family. As early as 1765 he had made a 
business of engraving on copper-plate, his first at- 
tempt being a series of " Psalm Tunes " put to music 
by Josiah Flagg, engraved and illustrated by him- 
self. Being an artist of no small merit he has left 
behind him an amazing number of views and car- 
icatures, the latter all bearing on the unquiet times, 
putting a sort of grim humor into the situations. 

No movement of the British Parliament nor the 
colonial government was lost upon this wide-awake 
Paul Revere ; all that could be done through his art 
to incite the people to a just wrath was done by this 
clever draughtsman. He even wrote the rimes 
which accompanied most of these caricatures; not 
always good poetry, perhaps, but always to the point. 
The hateful Stamp Act called for one, of course. 
It represented England in a dragon's guise, attacked 
by Boston with a drawn sword; the other colonies 
stand around, waiting for the issue, while from a 
bough of the Liberty Tree hangs the officer of the 
Crown whose duty it was to distribute the stamps. 

The real officer was not hung, of course, but to 
16 



HOW THE REVERES CAME TO BOSTON 

the delight of the crowd his effigy was strung up 
there. The repeal of the Stamp Act was celebrated 
in 1766 with great pomp. Paul Revere designed 
an obelisk which was set up on Boston Common and 
which later was to be placed under the Liberty Tree, 
but unfortunately during the jubilee the obelisk 
caught fire and was destroyed. 

The making of bookplates also became a part of 
Paul Revere's trade and there are many specimens 
of this line of work in delicate and beautiful designs. 
Indeed, had he lived in less troublous times, there 
is no telling to what heights his genius might have 
soared. 

One must also reflect that though living was 
cheaper in those days, to provide for so large a 
family as his needed constant effort, and Paul 
Revere whose skillful hands could turn to anything, 
even practiced dentistry at odd times. No doubt 
the young Reveres provided him with enough ex- 
perience to keep his hand in. 

The Boston Gazette of September 19, 1768, con- 
tains the following amusing advertisement: 

'' Whereas, many Persons are so unfortunate as 
to lose their Fore-Teeth by Accident and otherways, 

17 



PAUL REVERE 

to their great Detriment, not only in looks but speak- 
ing both in Public and Private: This is to inform 
all such that they may have them re-placed with 
artificial Ones, that look as v^ell as the Natural and 
answers the end of speaking to all Intents, by Paul 
Revere, Goldsmith, near the head of Dr. Clarke's 
Wharf, Boston." 

Two years later he again advertised his dental 
work by the use of enormous headlines in the 
Gazette, and a little card of thanks to the ladies and 
gentlemen who had employed him in times past, with 
a gentle reminder that he was still to be found at the 
old stand, or would be willing to go to people's 
houses if they wished ; and that the goldsmith's and 
silversmith's business was still " carried on in all its 
Branches." 

Curiously enough, it appears that Paul Revere's 
dentistry proved the means of identifying the body 
of General Joseph Warren who was killed in the 
battle of Bunker Hill. All the dead had been hastily 
buried after the battle, just where they fell; but 
when the British evacuated Boston in 1776, the two 
brothers and the physician of General Warren 
wished to remove him from his unmarked grave and 

18 



HOW THE REVERES CAME TO BOSTON 

give him a suitable funeral in Boston. Identifica- 
tion would have been impossible had not Paul Re- 
vere remembered that he had made an artificial tooth 
for the General, and he was able to recognize the 
wire with which he had fastened it. 

After his second marriage, the state of upheaval 
in the colonies demanded more active service. His 
clever cartoons attracted the notice of such men as 
Warren, Hancock, Adams and Quincy; it became 
their habit to send for him when matters of moment 
were discussed; for he had a clear head and sound 
judgment, and, belonging as he did to the great body 
of mechanics and traders, he could best gauge the 
temper of the people. 

After all, it is the revolt of the people which 
causes a revolution, and these honest folk, these col- 
onists of America, were sorely hindered in their ef- 
forts to earn bread for their wives and little ones. 
They willingly gave their strength to the cause of 
independence, training and drilling in secret in order 
to be ready for the mighty day of open rebellion. 
Paul Revere was not fighting for bread — there was 
always enough and to spare in the Revere household 
— but he had all the enthusiasm of youth as he flung 

19 



PAUL REVERE 

himself into the thick of it, and without a doubt the 
little Reveres must have lived in a continual state of 
wonder as to what Father would do next. 

As for the new wife, she fell into her place quite 
naturally, always ready, whatever happened, a help- 
ful partner and a real mother to the half-dozen 
ready-made children; and she generously added 
eight more little Reveres to the family group, so we 
can see it was no easy matter for Paul Revere to 
leave his large family and take those long and dan- 
gerous rides for the Committee of Safety which 
could trust no other man to do it half as well. 

The children grew accustomed to bidding their 
father a hasty farewell, but only the brave wife 
knew the danger of those long rides to New York 
or Philadelphia. Hidden foes might leap from any 
thicket, and there were always menacing tribes of 
savages for which to keep a sharp lookout. There 
was fear, too, of his arrest as a disturber of peace, 
and in the early days, before the Revolution, his cap- 
ture and imprisonment would seriously have re- 
tarded the preparations for resistance. But Paul 
Revere bore a charmed life. Utterly without fear, 
he did the duty assigned to him quickly and secretly, 

20 



HOW THE REVERES CAME TO BOSTON 

and his hot French blood warmed to the work. The 
greater the danger — the more urgent the need — 
the more reliance the patriots placed upon his cour- 
age and sagacity. 



II 

A SON OF LIBERTY 



II 

A SON OF LIBERTY 

ONE can easily imagine that the broad- 
shouldered, sturdy mechanic, for so Paul 
Revere was proud to call himself, was an 
ardent lover of liberty. Unlike most mechanics and 
artisans of his day, he was never chained to his 
bench or his workshop : he loved the open country, 
the blue sky, the freedom of the woods. The word 
" freedom " was the very breath of his nostrils and 
we have seen at the first hint at anything like resist- 
ance to England's mandates how quick he was to 
range himself on the side of his oppressed country- 
men. 

For some time he had been an active member of 
" The Sons of Liberty," a secret society formed in 
order to discuss freely grave and serious matters 
affecting the colonists. It boasted such members as 
Joseph Warren, John Hancock, Samuel and John 
Adams, Josiah Quincy and other well-known men, 

25 



PAUL REVERE 

but by far the greater part of the Sons of Liberty- 
was composed of traders and mechanics Hke Revere 
himself. This big society which soon spread its in- 
fluence to New York and Philadelphia had its birth 
in Boston and was divided into what were called 
" Caucuses." The North End Caucus, to which 
Revere and his friends belonged, had been organized 
by Dr. Joseph Warren, who with another person 
drew up the regulations. The famous Green 
Dragon Tavern in Union Street was usually the 
scene of their meetings. It was an unpretentious, 
two-story brick building with a pitch roof, and from 
above the entrance projected an iron rod on which 
crouched the Green Dragon which gave the house its 
name. To these meetings came all the noted patri- 
ots, lending the dignity of their presence during the 
discussions. " We were so careful," wrote Paul 
Revere in his notebook, " that our meetings should 
be kept secret, that every time we met, every person 
swore upon the Bible not to disclose any of our trans- 
actions, but to Hancock, Warren or Church and one 
or two more leaders." 

The Sons of Liberty numbered over three hun- 
dred strong, determined men among its members, 

26 



A SON OF LIBERTY 

each one pledged to the cause of liberty. They 
made a most imposing body when they appeared on 
public occasions. Each member wore suspended 
round his neck a medal, on one side of which was 
engraved a stalwart arm grasping in its hand a pole 
surmounted with a cap of liberty, and surrounded 
by the words, " Sons of Liberty " ; on the other side 
was a picture of Liberty Tree under which their first 
meetings were held. 

There was only one man in Boston who could 
make those medals and that man was Paul Revere, 
who came td every meeting, sitting alert and silent 
save when some practical point demanded his advice 
— always with a horse saddled for whatever secret 
mission on which the Committee of Safety chose to 
send him. In the heart of this powerful organiza- 
tion was hatched the beginning of the Revolution. 
Behind the heavy doors of the Green Dragon Tav- 
ern were whispered things which might have cost 
many respectable gentlemen their heads. Each Son 
of Liberty would have staked his life upon the in- 
tegrity of the others, yet even through those oaken 
doors crept treason, and little did these earnest patri- 
ots dream that as time went on, one of the trusted 

27 



PAUL REVERE 

few admitted to their councils would abuse and be- 
tray their confidence, even going so far as to sell 
some of their secrets to the English. Indeed, it 
was because such whispers got abroad that they used 
the Green Dragon Tavern for a meeting place, for- 
saking the well-beloved Liberty Tree. 

The traitor in the camp was no less a person than 
Dr. Benjamin Church, who was himself one of the 
organizers of the Sons of Liberty, who wrote many 
pamphlets and rimes attacking the British Govern- 
ment, and who was loud in his resentment at the 
King's unwise course. It was Church who told 
Governor Gage of the colonists' intention to seize 
all arms and stores at Concord, just as it was Paul 
Revere's watchful eye that discovered that the Brit- 
ish troops were about to leave Boston at the dead of 
night on some warlike mission unknown to its in- 
habitants. 

After all, our Mercury of the Revolution was a 
boy at heart. The game of hide and seek which the 
patriots and the soldiers were playing was wildly 
interesting. He was put upon every committee 
where alertness and vigilance were required, and it 
was doubtless through his many ways of gaining 

28 



A SON OF LIBERTY 

information that he was able to forewarn the lead- 
ers of threatening trouble. As a Son of Liberty 
Paul Revere was in every sense one of the Minute 
Men of the Revolution. Indeed, it is more than 
probable that he privately drilled many a raw ap- 
prentice into some semblance of a soldier. They all 
knew him and all loved him — this big, bluff, 
whole-souled patriot tradesman, who fashioned 
beautiful articles of gold and silver — not with his 
loaded gun near by like the farmers in the Middle- 
sex towns, but with a horse always saddled — a 
heart ever ready and eyes and ears on the alert in 
his country's cause. 

Nowadays we hear much talk of " preparedness " 
in case of war. Everywhere there is military stir. 
In our big cities our business men are learning army 
tactics. In our seaport towns our naval militiamen 
are being trained. We are building ships and manu- 
facturing guns and hoarding gunpowder — doing all 
those things which proclaim us a powerful as well 
as a peaceful nation. But in the old days how 
different it was! All the colonists had to depend 
upon in time of stress was a keen ear, a quick eye, 
and above all an undying and patriotic spirit. This 

29 



PAUL REVERE 

Paul Revere showed from the very beginning. In 
spite of his somewhat prosaic records of expendi- 
ture in his daybook, one must read between the 
Hnes and thinic of what such an outlay stood for. 
Here was a man of business — a man of family be- 
sides, and a pretty large one at that, willing to lay 
aside his daily work, and at the same time to risk 
his life and his health in long and dangerous rides 
across the country on business which the patriots 
would trust to no other man. We know, for in- 
stance, that on December 17, the morning after the 
Tea Party Paul Revere was hastily dispatched to 
Philadelphia and New York. This meant traveling 
by night and by day over frozen roads — roads 
which we easy travelers of to-day can scarcely im- 
agine, roads deep-rutted by the wheels of heavy 
wagons, full of stones and bowlders and dangerous 
holes, pitfalls for the unwary horse. For such a 
journey he needed the best providing, a horse trained 
for such work, provisions for many days, and arms 
in case of surprise. He needed money, too, to put 
up at the various roadhouses, to rest his tired horse, 
or perhaps to leave it and secure a fresh mount. It 
is not surprising, therefore, to see in his account 

30 



A SON OF LIBERTY 

books various bills presented to the Committee of 
Safety for riding and other expenses. Revere was 
but a fairly well-to-do mechanic ; he gave to the cause 
his courage and his loyalty ; but his time belonged to 
the support of his family, and the Committee of 
Safety was willing to pay the very moderate price he 
asked for the services he rendered. Our own little 
blue-coated messenger boys fare better to-day than 
did Paul Revere a hundred and forty years ago. 

When, later on, on June i, 1774, as a punishment 
for the destruction of the tea, the King closed Boston 
Harbor by signing the Boston Port Bill, Paul Re- 
vere rode forth again at the risk of capture to seek 
support from the sister colonies of New York and 
Philadelphia, and to scatter broadcast copies of the 
act, which he had printed and ornamented with 
heavy black mourning lines and adorned with the 
picture of a crown, a skull and cross-bones, which 
he had engraved especially for the occasion. 
" Over the skull," we are told, " was a rude sem- 
blance of a crown, and beneath the bones, that of the 
cap of Liberty, denoting that all was death and de- 
struction between the Crown and liberty." 

For this ride he was doubtless paid, for there is a 
31 



PAUL REVERE 

careful record of expenses; but it was not until after 
the famous ride to Lexington that he ever presented 
a bill to the Committee of Safety. From April 21, 
1775, until May 7 following — during which time 
he was scarcely out of the saddle — and for the 
days of riding, for expenses for himself and his 
horse, for the keeping of two other horses, and for 
certain printing that he did of a thousand impres- 
sions, he charged fii-is., reducing the cost of his 
labors to the sum of four shillings per day, which 
shows that his love of liberty far outweighed his love 
of money — although many have smiled over his 
attention to these little business details. 

Paul Revere was a true Son of Liberty. He be- 
lieved the highest liberty came through independence 
and he practiced it in his private, as well as in his 
public life. Money was to him a very solid and a 
very necessary foundation of independence and 
herein he differed from the great leader of his time, 
Samuel Adams, who never thought of money at all 
— whose snuff-colored suit was constantly out at el- 
bows, whose wife and children were poorly clad and 
poorly fed, whose poverty and inability to earn a 
living were the talk of Boston. 

32 



A SON OF LIBERTY 

Indeed, the more we read of these Revolutionary 
heroes, the more we marvel at the indomitable en- 
ergy which carried them through those trying times 
when the uses of electricity and steam were unknown 
to the world, when every message or warning which 
in these days flashes through telegraph or wireless 
or long-distance telephone, was sent post-haste by 
a trusty messenger on a fleet horse. Yet, after all, 
the Middlesex people did the next best thing; they 
set their meeting-house bells a-ringing in times of 
alarm. In case of fire, an invasion of savages, or 
any such direful happening, from town to town the 
bells told the story, until the air was full of their 
clanging and pealing. 

Paul Revere had everything for traveling that 
comfort could suggest, at least such comfort as men 
knew in those times, though the gentle art of bicy- 
cling would have saved him many a horse, to say 
nothing of as many precious hours. 

Therefore, it seems all the more wonderful that 
he accomplished v^^hat he did — in the face of seem- 
ingly insurmountable difficulties. 

This true Son of Liberty made the safety of the 
town his first thought and side by side with his city 

33 



PAUL REVERE 

and his country he held sacred the famous Liberty 
Tree, which was the scene of so many patriotic gath- 
erings. There was never a time when he could not 
remember it standing there on the corner of Wash- 
ington and Essex streets, and as a boy he and his 
companions had enjoyed many a romp beneath it. 
One has only to remember one's childhood to un- 
derstand the love of the men of Boston for this tree. 
It was very lofty, standing somewhat apart in royal 
state, and when the boys of Paul Revere' s time grew 
to manhood, they found that the old habit of stop- 
ping under it to discuss matters still clung to them, 
when events were hurrying them on to the final 
break with the mother country. The meetings 
under the tree then began to be attended with more 
ceremony and on great occasions lanterns hung 
from its branches and gay flags waved among its 
leaves. It was formerly called the Great Tree, but 
was known as Liberty Tree after the celebration of 
the repeal of the Stamp Act. State secrets were 
whispered and great resolves grew under its shadow. 
Many of Paul Revere's cleverest drawings are 
scenes laid around Liberty Tree and the tree itself 
always stands out a majestic spectator. It was a 

34 



A SON OF LIBERTY 

noble elm, with spreading boughs and a gnarled and 
knotted trunk which told its age, and not only was it 
sacred to the Sons of Liberty, but all the inhabitants 
looked upon it with reverence and awe. 

In 1775, when the British occupied Boston after 
the Battle of Bunker Hill, one of their crowning 
acts was to destroy this temple of patriotism. 

Armed with axes and led by a man named Job 
Williams, a mob surrounded the beautiful tree and 
cut it down " because it bore the name of Liberty." 
Some idea of the size of the tree may be gained from 
the fact that it made fourteen cords of wood when 
it was chopped up. After the war a liberty pole 
was placed on the stump of the tree, which was 
hereafter known as Liberty Stump. In 1826 a sec- 
ond pole was placed in position. It was intended to 
celebrate the visit of Lafayette in 1825, but for 
some reason its erection was delayed, and at the time 
the following lines were inscribed by Judge Daws : 

Of high renown here grew the Tree 
The Elm, so dear to Liberty; 
Your sires, beneath its sacred shade. 
To Freedom, early homage paid. 
This day with filial awe surround 
Its roots, that sanctifies the ground, 

35 



PAUL REVERE 

And by your fathers' spirits swear 
The rights they left, you'll not impair. 

To Paul Revere as well as to all the Sons of Lib- 
erty, the tree was as a living thing, and even though 
the presence of the British troops in Boston forced 
them to have their meetings behind closed doors, for 
them as for their children it always stood as an em- 
blem of liberty. 

The tree their own hands had to liberty reared, 
They lived to behold growing strong and revered ; 
With transport then cried, " Now our wishes we gain. 
For our children shall gather the fruits of our pain, 
In freedom we're born, and in freedom we'll live ! 
Our purses are ready, — 
Steady, friends, steady ! — 
Not as slaves, but as freemen, our money we'll give. 

In the wall of a building, corner of Essex and 
Washington streets in the Boston of to-day, directly 
over the spot where stood the famous tree, is a stone 
tablet representing in bas relief, a tree with wide- 
spreading branches. On the tablet is this inscrip- 
tion: 

LIBERTY 1776. 

LAW AND ORDER. 

SONS OF LIBERTY I776. 

INDEPENDENCE OF THEIR COUNTRY, I776. 

36 



A SON OF LIBERTY 

The best work of his graver did Paul Revere put 
upon this cherished tree, immortaHzing it in a dozen 
different pictures and drawing it with an artist's 
skill, showing in every delicate line how well he 
loved it. 

For this sturdy patriot loved well and hated well. 
The time was coming when his vigilance would be 
rewarded, not by the plaudits of the world, not even 
by the gratitude of the Committee of Safety whose 
willing servant he had been, but in the trust and 
faith of the farmers and tradesmen, and mechanics 
like himself who knew that their cause was in good 
hands if he was their champion. 

This bold Son of Liberty had his work to do. 
Had he blundered, his very name would have been 
forgotten, but what he did is recorded in history and 
the trumpet of fame is blown for those who 
succeed. 



Ill 

BOSTON'S BIGGEST TEA PARTY 



CHAPTER III 
BOSTON'S BIGGEST TEA PARTY 

WHEN the hateful tax on tea fell like a 
thunderbolt on Boston Town, Paul 
Revere was foremost among those 
who rose against the tyranny of Great Britain, and 
during the stormy resistance of the colonies our 
sturdy craftsman was in the thick of the fight — for 
he dearly loved a fight, this man of the people. 

Yet he had nothing to gain and everything to lose, 
for in his work shop were created all the dainty be- 
longings of the tea-table from the trap of solid 
beaten silver to the smallest spoon. With all the 
cunning of his art he made those beautiful things 
which found a ready sale among the well-to-do Bos- 
ton ladies. 

Doubtless in his own home tea was royally dis- 
pensed. Fancy Mistress Revere, at her table of old 
mahogany, its polished surface reflecting the beauti- 
ful bits of silver from her husband's workshop, 

41 



PAUL REVERE 

while the hissing, bubbling water from her copper 
kettle steeped the dried leaves she had heaped in the 
fat silver teapot. The colonial ladies made a prac- 
tice of " dropping in " for tea at their friends' 
houses, often carrying their cups and saucers and 
spoons along with them, and all of them took great 
pride in their tea-tables, set out with cups and sau- 
cers, cream bucket and sugar bowl, and always a 
lacquered chest filled with tea. But when the time 
of trial came, while Paul Revere and his brother 
workmen met at the Green Dragon Inn to denounce 
the tax on tea, the women put away their pretty tea- 
things and three hundred prominent colonial dames 
signed an agreement not to drink tea until the tax 
was withdrawn. 

The younger women followed the example of 
their elders, and it was a poor creature indeed who 
would be coward enough to drink a cup of tea in 
secret. Instead, they used what was called " bal- 
samic hyperion," made from the dried leaves of the 
raspberry plant, while thyme and other herbs came 
into use. 

So Paul Revere turned his attention to making 
tankards for ale, and pitchers and mugs for milk, 

42 



BOSTON'S BIGGEST TEA PARTY 

when he was not guarding the harbor with a handful 
of other tried and trusted men to see that no mer- 
chant ship crept in and deposited another unwelcome 
load of tea. 

Great Britain had not looked for this sort of re- 
sistance. It was estimated, at that time, that out of 
the three million colonists at least one million had be- 
come accustomed to drinking tea twice a day, and 
Bohea was the favorite brew. It is not easy to give 
up a habit, and the mother country, ignorant of the 
strength of her New World sons and daughters, 
rather unwisely counted upon the tea being some- 
thing which they could not do without ; so the East 
India Company was ordered to send its ships as 
usual to the American harbors. King George 
prided himself on being very lenient to his rebellious 
subjects, as well as very just. He had repealed all 
of the original tax save that on tea, and he wanted 
to show them that, as a father, he exacted the un- 
questioning submission of his children. 

Had Boston stood alone, she might not have been 
able to resist so successfully, but with the other ports 
— New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston, South 
Carolina — at her back, she was strong enough to 

43 



PAUL REVERE 

send her defiance across the sea. The colonists 
therefore determined, one and all, to resist the tax 
and not to buy any of the tea brought in by the East 
India Company. Of course there were a few ava- 
ricious merchants who smuggled it in and sold it 
secretly to unscrupulous people, but as a rule they 
were honest about it. There was, however, one 
man, Theophilus Lillie, who refused to sign an 
agreement not to sell any tea while the people were 
taxed. The stand he took aroused the fury of the 
mob, for he stood almost alone among the small 
merchants, who had signed the paper rather than 
lose their customers. Some one planted a post in 
front of his shop, with a carved head and the names 
of tea importers on it, and a hand beneath, pointing 
to his shop. A neighbor named Richardson asked 
a bystander to break the post down. This raised a 
crowd of boys who jeered and shouted and chased 
Richardson into his own house. The furious man 
fired into the crowd and killed a little boy eleven 
years old, named Christopher Snider. Then there 
was an uproar. The unfortunate boy had a public 
funeral, when five hundred children assembled at 
the Liberty Tree and walked in front of the bier all 

44 



BOSTON'S BIGGEST TEA PARTY 

the way to the burying ground, and six of his spe- 
cial companions held the pall. 

This little tragedy produced a deep impression on 
the people of Boston. It was followed in a few 
days by what is known as the Boston Massacre, 
when the British regulars fired upon a crowd of 
citizens, killing five and wounding many others. 
This occurred on March 5, 1770, and Paul Revere 
made a vivid drawing of the scene which took place 
in King Street. He also prepared a chart of the 
whole affair, which is most interesting, showing how 
methodical and accurate he was in his treatment of 
all public events. This chart is carefully lettered 
and spaced, with an accompanying key, and was 
probably worked out as a sort of introduction to the 
picture which later was " Engrav'd, Printed & 
Sold by Paul Revere, Boston." It is a large 
folded plate and remarkable particularly for 
the artist's attention to the smallest detail. The 
squad of redcoats fired on the peaceful citizens in 
the square formed by the Town House at the head 
and stores and residences on either side ; and in 
bringing the event before the eyes of the excited 
public the artist employed the Japanese method, 

45 



BOSTON'S BIGGEST TEA PARTY 

The next window held a vivid picture of the 
Boston Massacre. The third window represented 
America sitting on the stump of a tree ; in her hand 
a staff surmounted by the cap of liberty; her foot 
was on the head of a fallen grenadier, and 
her fingers were pointing to the tragedies in the 
other two windows. In commemoration of the 
harrowing events, the bells tolled from twelve 
to one and from nine to ten in the evening. 
Dr. Thomas Young delivered an anniversary ora- 
tion. 

But it was Revere's pictures that remained in the 
minds of the multitude. Indeed, his eyes were al- 
ways sharp to note events of moment, and wher- 
ever he happened to be he was active and promi- 
nent; so when the tea controversy became serious, 
his ready wit was thereto sting it with caricatures, 
his ready arm was there to fight for the right. Yet 
in spite of his patriotism, the soul of this honest 
trader was not above a business transaction, for we 
find recorded in his methodical daybook a charge 
of 6 shillings, " To engraving 5 Coffings for Mas- 
sacre," and just below, " 5s. for printing 200 impres- 
sions of Massacre." But let us not forget that there 

47 



PAUL REVERE 

was a big household of growing children to be fed 
and clothed! 

There's an old saying that you can drive a horse 
to water but you can't make him drink, and this was 
the stand America took about the tea. England 
might send ship after ship laden with the forbidden 
article, but free-born citizens could not be forced to 
buy, and there was such a falling off in the trade of 
the East India Company that it appealed to the 
British government for permission to send tea to 
America free of duty. But there is no more stub- 
born person than a stupid king. He would show 
that he was master, once and forever! The East 
India Company might go to pieces for aught he 
cared ! 

It seemed but a small matter, this tea business, 
but the settling of the question meant liberty or op- 
pression for the American people. The tea ships 
still continued to come into port, but the tea was 
stored away, as there was no one to buy it, and a 
strict guard was kept upon the traders. Paul Re- 
vere was a member of the vigilance committee ap- 
pointed to keep watch. 

It must be understood that these guards were vol- 
48 



BOSTON'S BIGGEST TEA PARTY 

unteers whose patriotism urged them thus to 
serve their country. There was a street patrol or- 
ganized by Paul Revere and conducted with such 
secrecy that although the town was full of soldiers 
ready to pick a quarrel at a moment's notice, no one 
suspected that day and night every thoroughfare in 
Boston had its own special force of secret police. 
They walked the streets, two at a time, so that in 
case of any sudden and unlooked-for disturbance, 
one could engage the intruder while the other 
could summon help from other quarters; all were 
provided with whistles to use in case of urgent 
need. 

At length the storehouse became so full of the un- 
sold tea that there was no room for any more, and 
so the colonists resolved that the incoming tea ships 
should be sent back home with their cargoes, and in 
case they refused to go, they should not be allowed 
to land a single chest of tea. 

Boston was the ringleader of the rebellion. The 
citizens of New York and Philadelphia resolved to 
stand by her and Philadelphia circulated handbills 
with this heading, so familiar now as the watchword 
of this great nation: 

49 



PAUL REVERE 

" By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall." 

Many meetings were held, many plans discussed, 
but all the assemblies agreed absolutely on the tea 
question, declaring that the East India Company 
was attempting to enforce the odious tax by bring- 
ing the tea into port. 

Boston at that time was a flourishing little town 
and the chief commercial center of the colonies. It 
contained about sixteen thousand inhabitants, al- 
most all of them of English origin, industrious, 
frugal and enterprising. 

Surrounded by water on every side, save by the 
narrow neck connecting with the mainland, the Eng- 
lish vessels naturally made for this coast line, so 
Paul Revere and the other volunteer watchmen had 
a busy time of it. The colonists trusted them to 
see that no unwelcome cargoes came to Boston Har- 
bor. All felt that it was to be a severe struggle for 
their rights and that the issue was near at hand; 
therefore the brave men who mounted guard were 
armed with muskets and bayonets and were on duty 
night and day. The far-famed Boston Tea Party 
was not a suddenly arranged entertainment. The 
handful of men who invited the guests and saw to 

50 



BOSTON'S BIGGEST TEA PARTY 

the refreshments were, for the most part, honest 
mechanics and tradespeople, true Sons of Liberty. 
It was at one of their meetings, held on October 23, 
1770, that the members present, including Paul Re- 
vere and the leaders with whom he associated, 
pledged themselves, their lives, and their fortunes, 
to oppose the sale of tea. They had been very pa- 
tient for fully three years, but at last they were ex- 
asperated, and at another enthusiastic meeting at the 
Green Dragon Tavern the Sons of Liberty resolved 
upon the destruction of the tea. 

We do not know who first suggested the idea of 
the Tea Party. In view of Paul Revere's cleverness 
as well as his enthusiasm, it would not be difficult 
to add this honor to the many he carried. But 
while a very brave man, he was also a very prudent 
one. He remembered that he had a wife and a 
houseful of children, and if such a suggestion from 
him reached the ears of Governor Thomas Hutchin- 
son, the King's officers would make short work of 
him. Perhaps it was an idea which gradually took 
definite form in the minds of these determined men. 
However that may be, it was unanimously resolved 
that if the ships still continued to come into port, 

51 



PAUL REVERE 

something must be done to show England that the 
colonists were in earnest. 

During this time Paul Revere was a busy man and 
it is probable that his workbench was deserted for 
days at a time while he attended many secret meet- 
ings of the Sons of Liberty by day or by night in 
out-of-the-way corners where inquisitive redcoats 
could not venture. Even the bravest had to work 
by stealth, for Governor Hutchinson could call out 
the militia if the colonists opposed him openly. 

While Hancock and Adams were making speeches 
to rouse the people, Paul Revere was working 
quietly among his fellow mechanics, and discussing 
with them the readiest and easiest way of settling the 
question. A whispered cautious word — a nod or 
a smile — conveyed its own message, and little by 
little a subdued air of preparation showed itself in 
many of the colonial households. 

What went on behind the closed doors of Paul 
Revere's home no one can ever tell. Instead of 
fashioning beautiful bits of silver and gold, he was 
probably consulting with Mrs. Paul as to the best 
material for moccasins, and what sort of juice dyed 
the skin a reddish brown. For though he himself 

52 



BOSTON'S BIGGEST TEA PARTY 

never told the secret, it was well known among his 
contemporaries that he lent a very able hand in the 
destruction of the tea. 

There came a time, at last, when the people lost 
their patience. In vain they appealed to the Gover- 
nor, for many of the Tory merchants who persisted 
in handling the tea were either his own relatives 
or in sympathy with the English government. 

In those tempestuous times it was wonderful 
what firm control the leaders had of the excited 
crowds, and such men as Adams, Hancock, and 
Warren were big enough to realize that while they 
might sway the people by speech, Paul Revere, as a 
man of action and by reason of his trade, stood 
shoulder to shoulder with the oppressed colonists. 
They recognized that he, too, was a leader, " steady, 
vigorous, sensible and persevering," as Dr. Young 
wrote of him, and carrying, long before that famous 
ride to Lexington, the fate of a nation in his hands. 
Instinct led the patriots to trust this one man with 
secret messages which, had they fallen into the Brit- 
ish grasp, would have hung or beheaded half of 
Boston. But Paul Revere never failed them; so 
quick and sure was he that he was often called the 

53 



PAUL REVERE 

Patriot Mercury. And the fact that he escaped un- 
scathed through adventure after adventure endowed 
him in the eyes of the people with almost super- 
natural powers. 

We may be certain that, while the tempest was 
brewing he was not idle. We may be sure, too, that 
Mrs. Revere was one of the first colonial dames to 
empty her tea caddy and put away her tea-things, 
saying as she did so : " Children, this is the last 
cup of tea you will get for a long while." Night 
after night she sent her trusty husband to take coun- 
cil with the other Sons of Liberty, while she tucked 
the little Reveres in bed and darned the family hose, 
but like the wife of John Adams, her heart must 
have beat at every whistle she heard. Those were 
troublous times indeed for the women of Boston. 
Each day England was drawing a tighter rein, and 
when the issue narrowed down to the tea question, 
every one felt there was little more to be said but 
much to be done. 

The Sons of Liberty, having failed in their ap- 
peal to the merchants, began to prepare secretly for 
whatever might happen, for ships laden with tea 
were on their way from England. Indeed, the tea 

54 



BOSTON'S BIGGEST TEA PARTY 

ship Dartmouth, commanded by Captain Hall and 
owned by Francis Rotch, a Quaker merchant of 
Nantucket, had already arrived and was anchored 
below Castle William on the coast, within reach 
of the timid merchants who had taken refuge there. 

In this ship were one hundred and fourteen chests 
of tea, and when the news spread through Boston, 
there was wild excitement. When Captain Hall 
came to Boston he was told by the patriots headed 
by Samuel Adams that he must bring his ship right 
into port in order to land all his cargo but the tea. 
The captain knew better than to disobey. 

On Monday, November 29, therefore, the Dart- 
mouth anchored off Long Wharf, and the commit- 
tee obtained Rotch's promise not to go on board his 
ship until Tuesday. Then Samuel Adams called a 
monster meeting for the 29th, at Faneuil Hall, 
which was scarcely big enough to hold the vast 
throng. 

This is the wording of the call: 

FRIENDS ! BRETHREN ! COUNTRYMEN ! 

That worst of plagues, the detested TEA, shipped for 
this Port by the East India Company, is now arrived in 
this Harbour. The Hour of Destruction or manly op- 

55 



PAUL REVERE 

position to the Machinations of Tyranny, stares you in the 
Face; every Friend to this Country, to himself, and to 
Posterity, is now called upon to meet at FANEUIL HALL, 
at NINE o'clock 

THIS DAY, 

(at which Time the Bells will ring), to make a united and 
successful Resistance to this last, worst, and most de- 
structive Measure of Administration. 
Boston, November 29, 1773. 

This was the note of alarm which should have 
warned the Governor, for the people crowded to this 
meeting as they did to the many meetings which led 
step by step to the famous Tea Party. The call itself 
was probably the work of the North End Caucus, 
one of the rallying clubs of the Sons of Liberty, of 
which Adams, Warren, and Paul Revere were active 
working members, and it would not be too great a 
stretch of the imagination to credit our honest silver- 
smith with the composition, the printing, and the 
circulating of the little handbills. 

A second and a third tea-laden ship having ar- 
rived in the harbor, the people decided to wait no 
longer. They once more protested to the Governor, 
but he was too angry to listen to reason. They even 
sent the young owner of the Dartmouth for a final 

56 



BOSTON'S BIGGEST TEA PARTY 

interview with Hutchinson, but he returned unsuc- 
cessful; he could not obtain a permit to take his 
ship out of Boston Harbor until he had emptied all 
his cargo. The tea was still on board, held there 
by the resolute, dauntless men who guarded not 
only the wharves but the ships as well — and woe 
betide the cunning seaman or crafty merchant who 
tried to smuggle any on shore. 

Meanwhile murmurs spread among the people. 
Dr. Thomas Young, always a fiery orator, was the 
first to suggest publicly that the only real way to 
solve the vexing problem and get rid of the tea was 
to throw it overboard. Just a little word — no 
doubt the result of all the secret meetings at the 
Green Dragon — but it was as a match to powder. 
It seemingly passed unnoticed, but the ears of such 
men as Paul Revere and his friends caught the 
sound, and all the active minds were alert to take the 
hint. 

About this time, the leaders, distrusting the mer- 
chants as well as the Governor himself, voted that 
six men should have horses always ready to ride 
and spread the alarm through the country in case of 
need. 

57 



PAUL REVERE 

Undoubtedly Paul Revere would have been one 
of the trusty messengers, as he was later on, 
but his place at that time was with the little 
garrison guarding the ships, which was un- 
der the strictest military discipline. John Han- 
cock and Henry Knox were members of this 
volunteer guard, and others who wished to join 
were requested to leave their names at the print- 
ing office of Edes and Gill, well-known patriotic 
printers. 

When the famous assembly of December i6 was 
sitting, the three tea-laden ships were anchored side 
by side at Griffin's Wharf. The town talk was only 
about the tea. Men discussed it on the streets, the 
women talked it over at home, while the very chil- 
dren chattered about it even in their play. The words 
of Dr. Thomas Young were whispered, " Throw it 
overboard ! " But how ? Whoever was caught in 
such an act would be severely handled, so the whisper 
never went beyond the handful of determined men 
who locked it safely in their hearts. Meetings were 
called by all the patriot leaders. At one of these the 
following song was composed and it became very 
popular : 

58 



BOSTON'S BIGGEST TEA PARTY 

Our Warren's there and bold Revere 
With hands to do and words to cheer. 

For liberty and laws; 
Our country's " braves " and firm defenders 
Shall ne'er be left by true North Enders, 

Fighting Freedom's cause. 
Then rally, boys, and hasten on 
To meet our chiefs at the Green Dragon. 

The mention of " braves " should have given the 
King's men some inkling of what was to happen, but 
they were either too stupid to grasp it or else they 
thought the colonists would never dare to plan such 
an act of open rebellion. 

The crowd that gathered in the Old South Meet- 
ing-House on that memorable Thursday, December 
i6, 1773, numbered seven thousand people, and 
though the day was rainy and disagreeable nearly 
two thousand persons came from out of town. The 
issue had been reached ; the twenty days' grace which 
they had given the ships for unloading and putting 
out to sea had resulted in nothing. The ships had 
not moved from the harbor; something had to be 
done and at once. 

History does not tell us if Paul Revere attended 
this meeting which lasted from early morning until 

59 



PAUL REVERE 

candlelight. It seems highly probable, however, 
that in spite of his duties as volunteer guardsman, 
he yet managed to find time to listen to some of the 
patriotic speeches. Perhaps he heard in the gloom 
the sonorous voice of John Rowe, the prominent 
merchant and patriot, when he exclaimed : 

" Who knows how tea will mingle with salt wa- 
ter ? " At any rate there was an uproar in the gal- 
lery where a motley crowd of people were gathered 

— among them many dark-hued Mohawk " braves " 

— and what is more likely than that our lusty pa- 
triot in war paint and moccasins lent his voice to the 
riot, yet at the same time was able to hold the mob 
in check when poor young Francis Rotch told the 
leaders how he had failed in his mission to the Gov- 
ernor? He was allowed to leave the meeting-house 
unhurt as he had tried his best to do what the people 
asked. 

Then Samuel Adams arose and uttered the words 
which must have been the signal for action : " This 
meeting can do nothing more to save the country ! " 
Answering this was a terrific war whoop from some 
men disguised as Indians, at the church door. 

Instantly the cry rang through the place, " Boston 
60 



BOSTON'S BIGGEST TEA PARTY 

Harbor a teapot to-night! Hurrah for Griffin's 
Wharf ! " and a band of men disguised as Mohawk 
Indians dashed out of the church with their hatchets, 
giving the war cry as they ran. Some twenty or 
thirty masked figures started the stampede, but at 
every step volunteers fell into line, and by the time 
the wharf was reached, bystanders could not count 
the number. Straight for the tea ships they made, 
running up the rope ladders like cats, swarming 
over the decks, spreading terror among the sailors 
with their wild whoops and the menacing way they 
brandished their hatchets and axes as they danced 
the war dance. But they spoke good colonial Eng- 
lish, these savages, and warned the captains and the 
crews to keep out of their way; they had come on 
board for one purpose which must be accomplished 
before they left. Then they dragged on deck three 
hundred and forty-two chests of tea, broke them 
open with their hatchets, and dumped their contents 
into the sea. 

Some one must have led these seeming savages, 
and though we may only conjecture, who knew bet- 
ter how to handle a crowd, how to start a mob and 
how to quell it, then our old friend Paul Revere, 

6i 



PAUL REVERE 

whose boy's soul must have reveled in the mas- 
querade ? 

There vi^as neither noise nor confusion; the men 
acted as if trained to the work, and with the pre- 
cision of well-drilled soldiers. As the townspeople 
began to understand what was happening, they made 
their way in throngs to the wharf where they 
watched in silence £18,000 in tea go down into the 
deep. So well they worked that in three hours' 
time everything was over, and they dispersed in 
good order, having been careful to respect private 
property. Before going to their homes, however, 
the workers turned their pockets inside out to see 
if any of the tea had found its way there, and if 
any one looked the least suspicious, a rough search 
was made at once. One man hid some in the lining 
of his coat, but the crowd soon found it out and he 
was relieved of it with little ceremony. A certain 
man named Thomas Melvill found some tea in his 
shoes, which he bottled and preserved. It is now 
in the possession of Mrs. Thomas Melvill, of Ga- 
lena, Illinois. 

In preparing for this, the biggest tea party ever 
chronicled, the determined band had gone seriously 

62 



BOSTON'S BIGGEST TEA PARTY 

to work. Those who could not go themselves sent 
their eager young apprentices. One master, after 
assisting his apprentice to disguise himself, prayed 
fervently for his safety and the success of the 
venture. 

One might well imagine that this enterprise was 
confined to active young men, reckless of life and 
limb, but who they really were was long a mystery, 
for when the destruction of the tea was planned, 
those who helped in the work had to swear absolute 
secrecy. There is only one instance on record of a 
man who betrayed another, and he was tarred and 
feathered for his treachery. 

On this account Paul Revere left behind him no 
clever engraving to commemorate such an important 
event. Scrupulously honest, he kept his oath of 
secrecy to the day of his death, but little by little as 
the storm clouds blew away and the next generation 
grew up, many interesting facts came to light con- 
cerning the famous Tea Party. To-day many well- 
know names are on that roll of honor. Neither 
Adams nor Hancock took an active part, but it is 
certain they knew what was going to happen, and 
it is more than probable that they were present when 

63 



PAUL REVERE 

the Tea Party was discussed and planned. Indeed, 
there was no other way for America to show Eng- 
land that she was in earnest Refusal to pay duty 
meant nothing to the obstinate King, but the loss of 
£18,000 in good money roused England as nothing 
else could. 

From every corner of the colonies came joyful 
congratulations, and from that time all the seaports 
refused to admit into their harbors any tea-laden 
vessels. Many were the songs and ballads which 
told of this well-planned deed; the newspapers took 
up the story, which in time passed into history. 

The next day Paul Revere was sent by the Boston 
Committee to New York and Philadelphia with dis- 
patches telling of the event. He carried also a letter 
to the New York Sons of Liberty. It was dated 
December 17, 1773, and it ran as follows: 

" The bearer is chosen by the committee from a 
number of gentlemen who volunteered to carry you 
this intelligence. We are in a perfect jubilee. Not 
a Tory in the whole community can find the least 
fault with our proceedings. . . . The spirit of the 
people throughout the country is to be described by 
no terms in my power. Their conduct last night 

64 



BOSTON'S BIGGEST TEA PARTY 

surprised the admiral and English gentlemen who 
observed that these were not a mob of disorderly 
rabble (as they have been reported), but men of 
sense, coolness, and intrepidity." 

In several instances many of the " Indians " took 
their young sons along to help in the night's work, 
but history does not state that young Paul Revere 
accompanied his father, though he was thirteen at 
the time. 

The elder Paul, from that day forth, established 
his reputation as a loyal and intrepid messenger, and 
took his place in the councils of the leaders. The 
Boston Tea Party was virtually the beginning of 
the Revolution. The colonists were now in open 
rebellion ; vessel after vessel brought English soldiers 
to our shores, and the royal governors, backed by 
the militia, managed to keep order only at the point 
of the bayonet, while the enraged King threatened 
to close the port of Boston, thinking to starve the 
city into submission. 



IV 
THE TIMES WHICH MADE THE MAN 



IV 
THE TIMES WHICH MADE THE MAN 

PAUL REVERE found great excitement in 
New York when he brought the news of 
the Tea Party. The people went wild 
with enthusiasm and immediately began to watch 
their own harbor to see that no tea-laden ships got 
in, and Revere bore back the news to Boston that 
Governor Tryon had promised to send all such ships 
back. The New Yorkers feted the sturdy patriot 
and at once dispatched a messenger bearing the joy- 
ful tidings to Philadelphia. 

But Paul Revere was anxious to get back to his 
own town, for the people, being in open revolt, 
needed the presence of their leaders — not only to 
cheer and encourage them to make resistance but to 
keep the headstrong from doing more damage to the 
rifled ships. He made the trip to New York from 
Boston and back again in eleven days, reaching Bos- 
ton on December 2^. The very next day he joined 

69 



PAUL REVERE 

the guard of twenty-five men on board the Dart- 
mouth, for both vessel and cargo would otherwise 
have been at the mercy of the mob. At the same 
time the harbor was watched closely, for another 
consignment of tea was expected, and when it 
reached port the same determined band of men 
disposed of the second shipment as they had the 
first — indeed, so much was dumped overboard at 
one particular point, that the receding tide left an 
inconvenient quantity on shore and men had to go 
out in boats, scoop up the heaps of tea leaves, and 
carry them a little further out to sea. 

Paul Revere about this time wrote to his friend 
John Lamb in New York : 

" You have no doubt heard the particulars, relat- 
ing to the last twenty-eight chests of tea ; it was dis- 
posed of in the same manner as I informed you of 
the other, and should five hundred more arrive it 
would go in the same way." 

This second raid on the tea ships hastened the 
closing of the port, and on March 31, 1774, the or- 
der for the boycott against the port of Boston, with 
the royal seal affixed, became a law, and went into 
effect June i. This meant that trade was stopped 

70 



THE TIMES WHICH MADE THE MAN 

— that no merchant ships could touch her harbor, 
and that Boston must now depend upon her own 
resources. The patriots far and near were en- 
raged at this insult of the King. The Committee of 
Safety sent messengers to the sister colonies, telling 
of England's injustice and asking their help in case 
of need. 

Paul Revere became a busy engraver once more ; 
handbills were printed — copies of the Port Bill, 
made terrible by heavy black lines and ornamented 
with a crown and skull and cross-bones — his own 
work — and the Committee of Safety again sent 
Revere to New York and Philadelphia. The clos- 
ing of the port was a serious matter for a flourishing 
town and the Boston leaders were afraid that with- 
out the help of all the colonists they would not be 
strong enough to hold out under this new trial. 
" A committee was chosen to go to several towns, 
and Mr. P. Revere was chosen to go express to New 
York and Philadelphia." 

The colonial idea of an " express " was neither an 
automobile nor a flying train. Had Paul Revere 
lived in modern times, with a swift running motor 
car at his disposal and the telephone and telegraph 

71 



PAUL REVERE 

within reach, all would have been different. With 
such conveniences the question of American inde- 
pendence would have been settled in one year instead 
of in seven, but Benjamin Franklin had not yet dis- 
covered the wonderful resources of the electricity 
that rent the heavens during a thunderstorm, though 
he was indeed the first American to use an umbrella 
for protection from the rain, and so the colonial " ex- 
presses " were simply mounted messengers on swift 
horses that knew every foot of the rough roads 
from town to town. 

Paul Revere was always well mounted and well 
stocked with nails and horseshoes, for each rider 
was his own blacksmith in those troublous times 
when he could not depend upon fresh mounts along 
the journey, and Paul Revere, being clever with his 
hands, had little difficulty in shoeing a horse. On 
this journey he was not only the bearer of important 
papers from the Committee of Safety to the commit- 
tees of New York and Philadelphia, but he scattered 
his own rousing pamphlets through the villages he 
met on his way and people hawked them about the 
streets crying: 

" Barbarous, cruel and inhuman murder! " 
72 



THE TIMES WHICH MADE THE MAN 

Revere's ride took him first across country to 
Philadelphia. Leaving Boston on May 14, he made 
the journey in less than six days, reaching his des- 
tination on the 20th. Here the " execrable Port 
Bill " aroused the anger of the citizens who resolved 
to stand by Boston, though they recommended 
** firmness, prudence and moderation," They sent 
back a letter by Paul Revere promising help in case 
of need, and it was at the suggestion of the Phila- 
delphians that all the colonies decided to call to- 
gether a General Congress, for the time had come 
for action. 

The Sons of Liberty of New York, as soon as 
they heard of the Bill, sent express to Boston reso- 
lutions and a letter advising the people to stand 
firm; the messenger they sent on this occasion was 
one Master John Ludlow, who, mounted on a black 
horse, hurried towards the New England border and 
as he galloped through the villages in Connecticut 
and Rhode Island spread the news of England's last 
indignity. Near Providence he met Paul Revere 
mounted on a gray horse speeding to New York 
bearing assurances of Boston's firmness and fidelity. 
Indeed, there were trusty men employed in these 

73 



PAUL REVERE 

secret missions all over the rebellious country; the 
colonies were girdled by these expresses and it was a 
brave and a bold man who was willing to risk his 
life on these dangerous errands. Yet so well did 
Paul Revere manage to elude the vigilance of the 
King's men, that never, until the day of his famous 
ride to Concord, did he fall into the hands of the 
English. 

About this time the Royal American Magazine 
appeared in Boston. Its first number, January, 
1774, bore this imprint: "America / Boston. 
Printed and Sold at Greenleaf's Printing Office / in 
Union Street, near the Conduit where subscriptions 
continue to be taken in." It was published for six 
months ; then it was suspended to be taken up again 
some months later until the following April when 
the war finally killed it. It was a queer little maga- 
zine, in striking contrast to the magazines of to-day ; 
it was printed on thin paper, its pages were small, 
and the type was thick and old-fashioned. To this 
magazine Paul Revere was a frequent contributor; 
each number contained at least two of his engravings 
signed always, " Paul Revere Sculp.," and though 
many of them were crude, they are historically valu- 

74 



THE TIMES WHICH MADE THE MAN 

able to-day. In the April number, 1774, he en- 
graved a reproduction of Copley's portrait of Sam- 
uel Adams, and in a later number one of John Han- 
cock. He did other portraits besides these, also 
several views of Boston, and he gave us many pic- 
tures pointing humorously to the events of his time. 
He was in his day what we would call in our day a 
clever cartoonist. People usually follow in the 
wake of laughter and Paul Revere's quaint way of 
poking fun at the English government turned many 
a Tory into a Whig. 

Being a prudent, far-seeing man, he coined his tal- 
ents into gold as fast as he could ; his growing fam- 
ily must be provided for, and there was no telling 
what the future held for the patriotic household. 
He received fairly good prices for his magazine en- 
gravings, and the last charge made in his methodical 
daybook was dated 

April I, 1775 — Joseph Greenleaf, Esq'. Dr. 

To engrave plates for March Mage. £3/0/0 

Which shows that he received three pounds for his 
month's work. We can easily trace in his daybook 
the rides he took for the Continental Congress, for 

75 



PAUL REVERE 

they were all charged up, and finally paid for. He 
engraved billheads for taverns, and designed book- 
plates for book-lovers and in 1774 he illustrated two 
volumes, entitled : " A New Voyage Round the 
World. In the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771 : 
Undertaken by order of his Present Majesty, Per- 
formed by Captain James Cooke." 

One of his most notable engravings is a view of 
Harvard College, but only half of it is in existence 
and that is safely treasured in the State House. 
The back of the other half was used in 1775, by 
the patriot artist, for engraving the design for Pro- 
vincial money in three different sizes, six, four- 
teen, and twenty shillings. Indeed, there were 
so few mechanics who understood the art of en- 
graving that it seems quite probable that many 
of the unsigned pieces came also from the hand of 
Paul Revere, although it is very evident he never 
placed the proper value upon his really excellent 
work. 

It was in August, 1774, that Paul Revere, and 
twenty-one other men on the same list, refused to 
serve as grand jurors, giving as their principal rea- 
son the fact that the presiding judge was a man of 

1^ 



THE TIMES WHICH MADE THE MAN 

bad character. This was the last grand jury under 
the Crown, 

On September 5, the Philadelphians opened their 
doors to the General Congress of the colonies. 
Fifty-one delegates assembled at Carpenter's Hall, 
and Quakers and Puritans alike made great prepara- 
tions to entertain them while in town. But these 
men did not come together for fun and frolic; an 
eager, restless host of people was looking to them 
for counsel. They met in a common cause, and 
those from far ends of the New Country forgot the 
dividing line which had hitherto held them apart. 

" I am not a Virginian, but an American ! " cried 
Patrick Henry, and in that great crisis of their his- 
tory the colonists felt that individual differences 
were merged in a common cause. 

The Massachusetts delegates to this Congress 
were Samuel Adams and his cousin John Adams, a 
lawyer of great eloquence and an ardent patriot. 
The other leaders were busy at home, framing cer- 
tain resolves for bettering the government of Suffolk 
County which included Boston and adjacent towns. 
These were called the " Suffolk Resolves," written 
by Dr. Joseph Warren, who dispatched them by Paul 

17 



PAUL REVERE 

Revere to the Massachusetts delegates in Philadel- 
phia. Revere set out September ii, and accom- 
plished the journey in his usual six days, over a road 
made unsafe by lurking Tories. At any moment he 
might feel a pistol at his head and a peremptory 
order to " stand and deliver." But the big, gray 
horse he rode had strength and endurance; like his 
master he never seemed to tire. 

He reached Philadelphia on September 17, and on 
the same day the Resolves, ending with an appeal 
for help from the people of Boston to her sister 
colonies, were read in the Assembly, and produced a 
deep impression, for the Port Bill had left Boston in 
great stress and she had to depend largely upon 
charitable contributions from outside. The Con- 
gress immediately passed a resolve denouncing Eng- 
land's acts and indorsing the Suffolk Resolves. 
Samuel Adams wrote to the Bostonians, " I think I 
may assure you that America will make a point of 
supporting Boston to the utmost." 

Paul Revere was sent back loaded with letters and 
important documents. These reassured the Boston 
patriots. Revere was again employed in October, 
when the Provincial Congress was sitting in Boston, 

78 



THE TIMES WHICH MADE THE MAN 

to carry messages to the Philadelphia Congress 
which was still in session ; indeed, he went back and 
forth so often that only the most important rides 
are recorded. In Boston the coming of Paul Revere 
was always hailed with enthusiastic excitement; he 
always brought news of some kind, and eager 
crowds surrounded his horse or beseiged his doors. 
He knew more of current history than any man of 
his time; admitted to the councils of the mighty, he 
could put his finger on the pulse of the feverish na- 
tion. His intimate knowledge of the country, his 
frequent halts at wayside taverns where he fell in 
with all kinds of men, made his opinion of great 
value, while his indefatigable energy and indomi- 
table courage were to be relied on through thick and 
thin. So it is small wonder that he was chosen for 
a certain ride which history recorded with a passing 
paragraph but which proved to be a most important 
and dangerous mission. This occurred on the De- 
cember before the ride to Concord, and was a longer 
and more difficult journey than any he had yet un- 
dertaken. 

Word had come to the Boston leaders of the 
King's decree that neither arms nor ammunition 

79 



PAUL REVERE 

should be shipped to the colonies. What did this 
mean? No man was safe in this new country with- 
out his gun at hand. The savages, though driven 
back into the forests, still showed their evil faces in 
the clearings made by the settlers. To deprive these 
men of their only means of protection would be but 
a step from murder. Yet what could they do ? That 
stupid and obstinate King of England, who regarded 
the colonists as a set of wild animals, thought by 
depriving them of arms and ammunition that they 
might speedily be brought to terms. He little knew 
the stern spirit of resistance which had sprung up 
among these people who had fought for every inch 
of the ground they possessed. 

The Committee of Safety set to work in earnest. 
The men who were secretly patrolling the town 
brought news to the Sons of Liberty that two regi- 
ments of British Regulars were about to march to 
Portsmouth Harbor, New Hampshire, to reenforce 
the garrison of Fort William and Mary. This col- 
ony, already a ship-building center, was beginning to 
stir uneasily. News traveled quickly from Boston, 
and Major John Sullivan, the patriotic leader, whose 
house stood on an eminence in the little village of 

80 



THE TIMES WHICH MADE THE MAN 

Durham, a few miles from Portsmouth Harbor, was 
equipping and drilling a band of eager men to be 
ready for the war which he thought must come. 
He was known to the Boston leaders as intrepid and 
daring, and devoted to the cause of the colonies. 
To him must fall the duty of surprising the handful 
of men in the fort, and seizing all the arms and am- 
munition, which it was most important that the 
patriots should have, in case of war. But how to 
warn him in time to accomplish this feat before 
the arrival of the British troops — that was the 
question, and there was only one man who could 
answer it. 

" Revere ! Revere ! " called the Sons of Liberty, 
and he appeared at their bidding, booted and spurred 
for the ride, muffled in his great cloak and as well 
protected from the gripping cold as the anxious fore- 
thought of good Mistress Revere could devise. It 
was no easy matter — a ride through those frozen 
northern wastes — and it was more than sixty good 
miles, as the crow flies. 

A man who journeyed in those days was per- 
force scantily provided with food ; he usually carried 
dry bread with perhaps a flask of good ale or cider 

8i 



PAUL REVERE 

to wash it down, but for his meat he had to depend 
on the game he found on the way. A hare or a 
rabbit or even a squirrel was enough to stave off 
hunger. On this freezing December ride, no doubt, 
he was well fed before he started, because haste was 
the watchword and the gray horse had much ado to 
keep his footing on the frozen road as he thundered 
along at the top of his speed, urged on by the spurs 
of his rider. Now he plunged and reared amid the 
crackling branches of undergrowth, now he pawed 
little frozen rivulets, now struggled in a deceptive 
snowdrift. But whatever the obstacle, he scrambled 
out of it — his head erect, his ears laid back, his 
glossy coat streaked with mud and foam — while 
again and again came encouraging pats and deep- 
voiced monosyllables from the man on his back, 
at which the good steed went faster, while 
the wind whistled about them and it grew colder 
and colder. But at last they came to a clearing and 
the weary rider saw the village of Durham just 
ahead of him. Before long, Revere was knocking 
at the door of the house on the hill, and he stumbled 
in upon Major John Sullivan, half-spent himself and 
his horse almost done for. 

82 



THE TIMES WHICH MADE THE MAN 

The lusty major was soon in possession of the 
message from the Committee of Safety and without 
delay set about collecting the four hundred men who 
were ready for any emergency. At nightfall the 
little company set forth as quietly as possible. The 
tiny village of Durham was spread out around the 
falls of Oyster River, a stream which flowed 
through the Piscataqua region into Portsmouth 
Harbor. To reach the harbor the men had to go 
down the river in boats called gondolas — a curious 
name for the clumsy little craft, for certainly they 
bore not the slightest resemblance to the boats on 
the canals of Venice. While these gondolas were 
neither graceful nor beautiful, they certainly had 
plenty of room for the stowing away of firearms 
and gunpowder. 

Paul Revere stayed only to rest his horse; then 
he, too, galloped on toward Portsmouth, while the 
little surprise force crept quietly and cautiously 
downstream. As they neared the Portsmouth shore 
the stream became so shallow that the men were 
forced to wade through the water, and even while 
they walked it froze upon their feet. Then, when 
they reached the fort, they took off their heavy, 

83 



PAUL REVERE 

clumping boots that they might scale the ramparts 
without making a noise. 

Within the fort were Captain Cochran and five 
soldiers, who immediately surrendered; and while 
the six were held as prisoners, the patriots worked 
hard and carried off one hundred kegs of gunpowder 
and a quantity of small arms, which they took in 
the gondolas back to Durham, having first released 
the captain and his men. Paul Revere' s way lay 
naturally along the Durham road, and we may be 
quite sure that he lent a hand in burying the gun- 
powder under the pulpit of the old meeting-house 
in front of Major Sullivan's residence. This ac- 
complished, the faithful messenger returned to Bos- 
ton, arriving half frozen from his long and tedious 
journey, probably to be tucked in bed by the anxious 
Mrs. Paul, with hot bricks at his feet, and waited 
on by his admiring children who were then quite old 
enough to appreciate the work he was doing for his 
country. 

This seizing of the gunpowder at Portsmouth was 
America's first act of open rebellion. The British 
were now thoroughly roused and orders were dis- 
patched from London to seize all arms and ammuni- 

84 



THE TIMES WHICH MADE THE MAN 

tion to be found in the country. This order 
hastened Major Pitcaim's expedition to Lexington 
to seize the stores the patriots had collected, and the 
rest we know. During the battle of Bunker Hill, 
when the patriots' gunpowder gave out, the gunpow- 
der captured at Portsmouth was taken from its hid- 
ing place and brought to the battleground in the ox- 
cart of an old farmer named John Demeritt, just in 
the nick of time. The last ounce of this famous 
gunpowder was used to shoot squirrels in 1800. 

There was an attempt made by the English to 
seize some brass artillery at Salem, but that was 
frustrated by a committee of these six men: 
Joshua Brackett, Paul Revere, Ben. Edes, Joseph 
Ward, Thomas Crafts, Jr., Thomas Chase. 

Indeed, we find the name of Paul Revere wher- 
ever there was need of caution, speed, and planning. 
His mind was quick to work, when great events were 
pressing. 

Meanwhile, the spirit of the British soldiers gath- 
ered in Boston was enough to rouse the suspicions 
of the patriots. The soldiers were under daily 
drill, and incoming ships brought fresh regiments 
instead of produce to the starving Boston people, 

85 



PAUL REVERE 

for the port was still closed to commerce by order 
of the King. On the patriot side, also, there were 
preparations for some issue — they knew not what. 
The leaders and the orators had their hands full, 
but Paul Revere was the mouthpiece of the me- 
chanics. He went among them and picked from 
their number thirty or more to secretly patrol the 
streets of Boston and bring to the Green Dragon 
Tavern — where the Sons of Liberty still congre- 
gated — any news which might be of importance 
and of service to the patriots. 

Meanwhile, the troubled people met in the Con- 
tinental Congresses and sent protest after protest 
to the King and his parliament. But the British 
government paid no heed to the warning. So far, 
not a shot had been fired, though the two sides had 
met, glared at each other, exchanged hostile words 
and threats, and then had gone their ways. 

The New Year of 1775 came in as other years; 
the trade of Paul Revere still gave him an honest 
living, for so well did he keep his own council that 
it was not generally known abroad how closely his 
fortunes were linked with those of other patriots. 
He was at that time forty years old, a big, broad, 

86 



THE TIMES WHICH MADE THE MAN 

athletic man, who thought it no more than child's 
play to spring into the saddle and gallop off on some 
secret mission, the failure to accomplish which 
might have cost him his life, and he had much to 
live for. Besides his own large family, his mother 
was still alive, as well as several brothers and 
sisters, and he could count his friends by the hun- 
dreds. The town of Boston depended much upon 
his devotion and courage. While others talked, he 
acted, boldly and swiftly. To say that Paul Revere 
was charged with a mission meant that at any cost 
that mission would be accomplished, and in the 
struggle for independence the patriots' roll of honor 
would not be complete without his name upon it. 



V 
THE STORY OF THE RIDE 



V 

THE STORY OF THE RIDE 

Listen, my children, and you shall hear 
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. 

IT was not the ride that was so unusual; we 
know how often the stalwart figure astride the 
gray horse was seen galloping across the coun- 
try ; but it was the fact of its being midnight; and 
the added fact that every care was taken to keep this 
ride a profound secret ; to choose the darkness, under 
the very shadow of the British man-of-war then at 
anchor in Boston Harbor, shows at once the cau- 
tion and the daring of a man to whom danger was 
as nothing when it was a question of serving his 
country. 

It was on December 13, 1774, that Paul Revere's 
ride to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, put into the 
patriots' hands a quantity of gunpowder. This act 
so incensed the British that the soldiers in the col- 
onies were ordered to seize all military stores. 

91 



PAUL REVERE 

In the meantime there had been born what was 
known as the Provincial Congress; it was nothing 
more nor less than an assembly of patriots in Mas- 
sachusetts — the coming together of the Committee 
of Safety and the Sons of Liberty — for the pur- 
pose of opposing the tyranny of the British govern- 
ment. This Provincial Congress met in the sum- 
mer of 1774, first at Cambridge, then at Concord, 
and John Hancock was chosen president. During 
the three sessions of this Congress, the breach be- 
tween the colonies and the mother country became 
wider and wider. The first Congress adjourned on 
December 10, and between that date and February 
I, 1775, the opening of the Second Provincial 
Congress at Cambridge, Boston was in a state of 
intense though smothered excitement. The arrival 
of so many soldiers had brought smallpox into the 
town, and on his return to Boston John Hancock 
was busily fighting the progress of the plague. 

His own home, a handsome mansion near the 
Common, was a target for the King's army, which 
had camped there; and this, while exceedingly dis- 
agreeable, nevertheless had its advantages, for every 
movement of the soldiers could be watched from 

92 



THE STORY OF THE RIDE 

behind its windows. Here John Hancock, then un- 
married, lived with his aunt, Madam Lydia Han- 
cock, and here came, as a frequent guest during 
that eventful winter. Miss Dorothy Quincy who 
afterwards became his wife. She has told us in 
her reminiscences that she could plainly hear, across 
Boston Common, Lord Percy's voice drilling the 
regulars. 

The first session of the Second Provincial Con- 
gress lasted from February i to February i6, and 
Hancock, being aware of the warlike preparations 
going on in front of his house, decided that the four 
brass fieldpieces and two brass mortars belonging 
to the province had best be delivered at once, out 
of the hands of Colonel Robertson, the English 
officer who guarded them, and into the hands of the 
Committee of Safety. Hardly was this quietly ac- 
complished when Governor Gage decided that the 
King needed those province guns, and sending his 
soldiers for them, found only the carriages on which 
they had been mounted. Well might the discom- 
fited soldiers exclaim, " They are gone ! These fel- 
lows will steal the teeth out of your head while you 
are keeping guard ! " 

93 



PAUL REVERE 

The patriots took good care to hide these price- 
less cannon, and the soldiers sought in vain, raid- 
ing every house along their way. They knew that 
the gates had not been opened, because of an un- 
broken cobweb hanging over them; the other pas- 
sageway was through a schoolhouse which they 
searched pretty thoroughly ; one can imagine the 
suppressed excitement of scholars and teacher, for 
right in sight, in a box which Schoolmaster Hol- 
brook used as a stool for his lame foot, lay the 
guns; and strange to say, this was the one hiding- 
place undisturbed. Those cannon were in service 
during the whole war, and two of them are now on 
the wall of Bunker Hill Monument. They have 
been named the Hancock and the Adams. 

This capture, of course, enraged the British sol- 
diers, and before the second session of the Provincial 
Congress Hancock's house was attacked by British 
officers and badly battered. This occurred on 
March 14; the next day the session began in Con- 
cord, and Hancock put his troubles aside for this 
was not the time for personal grievances ; the shad- 
ows of coming events hung thick and heavy over 
the colonies. 

94 



THE STORY OF THE RIDE 

On the morning of the second session of the sec- 
ond Provincial Congress, Hancock presided as usual 
and Samuel Adams was conspicuous in the assem- 
bly. Dr. Joseph Warren was left to watch in the 
encompassed and storm-tossed Boston, and Paul 
Revere became his right hand, at his service day 
and night. These two men were sorely troubled be- 
cause some of the secrets whispered under the oath 
of silence among the Sons of Liberty had been 
betrayed to Governor Gage and his soldiers. 
Through the strongly bolted door and the barred 
windows of the Green Dragon Tavern a whisper 
had been carried. It was the voice of a traitor in 
their midst, and Warren and Revere, drawn closely 
together during this time of waiting and watching, 
put their wits to work to find out who could have 
done so base a thing. An honest Tory gentleman 
disclosed the name of their hidden foe, who was no 
other than Dr. Benjamin Church, one of the Sons 
of Liberty and a member of the Provincial Congress, 
where he sat day after day gathering what informa- 
tion he could to sell to Governor Gage. Dr. War- 
ren and Paul Revere also learned that the British 
government had put a price upon the heads of 

95 



PAUL REVERE 

Hancock and Adams, as traitors to the King. 

Warren's plain duty was to warn these gentle- 
men, who most likely had a pretty clear idea of the 
state of affairs for instead of returning to Boston 
between the first and second sessions they stopped 
over in Lexington, at the home of Hancock's cousin 
and her husband, the Rev. Jonas Clark. Here, 
also, in a great panic, came Madam Lydia Hancock 
and her young friend Miss Dorothy Quincy, who 
the keen old matchmaker was determined should 
become the wife of her nephew, though at the time 
of the old lady's flight from Boston she was wary 
enough not to mention this. 

Meanwhile, this second session brought eager 
crowds to Concord. The little Puritan town was 
all astir with excitement, and gay coaches, bearing 
the members and their ladies, rolled along the high- 
way toward the old Parish meeting-house where the 
sessions were held; the gentlemen in their bravest 
toggery and the ladies resplendent in laces and sat- 
ins and powdered wigs; such state did they keep 
that the sober Puritan gasped with wonder at the 
display. At each meeting there was such clapping 
of hands and waving of three-cornered hats and 

96 



THE STORY OF THE RIDE 

lace kerchiefs that even the simple Concord folk 
clapped and shouted lustily, throwing open their 
homes to the visitors, while their tables fairly- 
groaned with good cheer; for however gaudy their 
dress, these strangers were patriots at heart, and so 
for four weeks this feasting and " speechifying " 
kept up. 

On Saturday, April 15, the session adjourned to 
open May 15. The crowds began to leave Concord, 
the meeting-house was closed, the Puritans took off 
their " Sunday best " and went peacefully to bed, 
while Hancock and Adams returned to Lexington, 
as usual, to spend the night, and no one dreamed of 
what was going on in Boston, not twenty miles 
away. 

Things had come to such a pass in the town 
that Paul Revere got together his band of thirty 
men, himself one of the number, and in small 
squads patrolled the streets all night; when one 
set of men grew tired, another set took their 
places; and so every movement of the soldiers 
and the Tories was reported to the Committee of 
Safety. 

At last, on Saturday, April 15, the very day that 
97 



PAUL REVERE 

the Provincial Congress adjourned, it became clear 
that something was going on in the British camp, 
and the vigilant and anxious patriots discovered that 
the grenadiers and the light infantry had been taken 
off duty. This made them suspicious, and they 
further discovered that the men-of-war in the har- 
bor had launched all their boats and had hidden 
them from view under the sterns of the ships. To 
Dr. Warren and Paul Revere this plainly showed 
that the troops were making ready to cross over to 
Charlestown for some purpose which boded no good 
to the colonists. The following day, Sunday, the 
1 6th of April, Dr. Warren, full of anxious fears, 
dispatched Revere to Lexington with a message to 
Samuel Adams and John Hancock. It was very 
certain that the soldiers were making ready for some 
important expedition, and as they seemed to be pre- 
paring to cross the bay, it was probable they in- 
tended to march as far as Concord and seize the 
military stores — perhaps capturing Hancock and 
Adams on the way. 

The Sabbath day was very still and peaceful as 
the messenger jogged along the country road on his 
way to Lexington, and the air was filled with the 

98 



THE STORY OF THE RIDE 

scent of the early spring flowers. It was not un- 
usual to see a solitary rider along the highroad, and 
those who passed him took little notice of the in- 
offensive-looking man, yet that ride of the i6th of 
April, while unsung, without doubt did more than 
anything else to insure to the Americans their first 
victory. 

On reaching Lexington Paul Revere learned that 
Congress had adjourned until May 15 unless un- 
foreseen events should call for an earlier meeting. 
Hancock and Adams, now thoroughly roused by the 
latest •news from Boston, decided to call the Conven- 
tion together again, and the delegates were ordered 
to reassemble on April 22, at Watertown. For- 
tunately, the Committees of Safety and Supplies 
were still sitting at Concord. They had already 
placed the cannon in the town, and on the 17th, 
Hancock and the Committee of Supplies disposed of 
all the cannon the province possessed. 

The two four-pounders were left at Concord; an 
artillery company was immediately formed and an 
instructor provided to teach the men how to use 
the cannon. Four six-pounders were sent to Gro- 
ton, under the care of Colonel Prescott, and two 

99 



PAUL REVERE 

seven-inch mortars were ordered to Acton, It was 
then determined that all the available ammunition 
should be equally divided among the nine towns in 
the province, and that the provisions stored at Con- 
cord should be divided in like manner. Also, the 
Committee voted that the gunpowder should not be 
sent, as ordered, from Leicester to Concord, but that 
Colonel Barrett, who had charge of it, should have 
it made into cartridges ; and that the musket-balls in 
charge of the same Colonel Barrett should be buried 
in some safe and secret place. Pickaxes, spades, 
shovels, axes, and other implements then at Concord 
were shared with two other villages. Medicine 
chests and linen were placed in every village, and 
eleven hundred tents were " deposited, in equal parts, 
in Worcester, Lancaster, Groton, Mendon* Leices- 
ter and Sudbury." 

The transporting of the guns to Groton and Acton 
was enough to rouse people whose senses were on 
the alert, and this alone might account for the pour- 
ing out of the Minute Men from the neighboring 
towns in time to join in the fight at Concord Bridge ; 
for that almost forgotten ride of April i6, with 
the consequent shifting of ammunition, was alarm 

ICO 



THE STORY OF THE RIDE 

enough for the every-ready Minute Men. Doubt- 
less, from that moment until the bells rang on the 
19th of April, they slept in their clothes with their 
guns beside them. 

History gives us many hints as to how the secret 
plans of the British soldiers became known to the 
patriots. It has been said that Mrs. Gage, wife of 
the General, betrayed her husband's confidence, she 
herself being an American and secretly in sympathy 
with the patriots ; but it is far more probable that no 
private person was responsible for all this fore- 
knowledge of the British movements. 

The Boston patriots were on guard. Revere and 
his patrolmen had every exit from the town under 
strict watch, and no body of soldiers could hide their 
movements from such hawk-like vigilance. It did 
not take a brilliant mind to understand that the 
Somerset, the British man-of-war, had moved from 
the bay out into the Charles River in order to bring 
her guns in position to cover the ferry ways, making 
it a dangerous venture to cross to the opposite shore, 
and cutting off effectually, as the British thought, 
any attempt to communicate with the patriots on the 
other side of the river. If General Gage imagined 

lOI 



PAUL REVERE 

that eight hundred of his soldiers could march out 
of Boston unnoticed, he must indeed have miscal- 
culated the intelligence of the men with whom he 
had to deal, men in whom the passion for liberty- 
had become a ruling motive. 

Paul Revere, from his own observation, knew 
more concerning the British troops than any one in 
Boston, and " on Tuesday evening, the i8th," he 
himself tells us, " it was observed that a number of 
soldiers were marching toward the bottom of the 
Common." This made it plain in Revere's quick- 
working mind that they were going to cross the river 
to Charlestown instead of marching around by the 
way of Boston Neck; therefore he knew, before the 
signals flashed out, whether they were going by 
land or sea. Revere's own account of his prep- 
arations for the ride which Longfellow's poem 
has impressed so vividly upon us is most inter- 
esting : 

" About ten o'clock," he writes, " Dr. Warren 
sent in great haste for me, and begged that I would 
immediately set off for Lexington, where Messrs. 
Hancock and Adams were, and acquaint them of 
the movement, and that it was thought they were 

102 



THE STORY OF THE RIDE 

the objects. When I got to Dr. Warren's house, I 
found he had sent an express by land to Lexington, 
a Mr. WilHam Dawes." 

This shows Warren's forethought in sending an 
express both by land and sea, hoping that one or 
the other would reach his destination. Paul Re- 
vere continues : 

" The Sunday before, by the desire of Dr. War- 
ren, I had been to Lexington to Messrs. Hancock 
and Adams, who were at the Rev. Mr. Clark's. I 
returned at night through Charlestown; there I 
agreed with a Colonel Conant and some other gen- 
tlemen that if the British went out by water we 
would show two lanthorns in the North Church 
steeple; and if by land, one as a signal; for we were 
apprehensive it would be difficult to cross the 
Charles River or get over Boston Neck. I left Dr. 
Warren, called upon a friend, and desired him to 
make the signals." 

He said to his friend, " If the British march 

By land or sea from the town to-night, 

Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch 

Of the North Church tower as a signal light, — 

One, if by land, and two, if by sea ; 

And I on the opposite shore will be, 

103 



PAUL REVERE 

Ready to ride and spread the alarm 
Through every Middlesex village and farm, 
For the country folk to be up and to arm." 

Paul Revere then went home; that is all he tells 
us about that home-coming which might well have 
been his last ; but the brave lady at home knew how 
much there was at stake, and she helped him without 
question as he made ready for the perilous under- 
taking. There were even chances of his capture, 
for his way lay across the river, within gunshot of 
the Somerset, and all depended upon speed and 
caution. 

" I took my boots and surtout," he tells us, " and 
went to the north part of the town where I kept a 
boat; two friends rowed me across Charles River, 
a little to the eastward where the Somerset man- 
of-war lay." 

These preparations were made more quickly than 
one might imagine, for Paul Revere always kept a 
small canoe " concealed in a dock at the north part 
of the town, and a riding-dress always in order to 
put on at a moment's warning." 

Then he said " Good night " and with muffled oar 
Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore. 

104 



THE STORY OF THE RIDE 

The story goes that " while he and his two com- 
rades were on the way to the boat, it was suddenly 
remembered that they had brought nothing with 
which to muffle the sound of their oars. One of 
the men stopped at a certain house at the North End 
of the town and made a peculiar signal. An upper 
window was softly raised and a hurried colloquy 
took place in whispers, at the end of which, some- 
thing white fell noiselessly to the ground. It 
proved to be a woolen undergarment, still warm 
from contact with the person of the little rebel." 
Paul Revere's grandson, Mr. John Revere, vouches 
for the truth of this story. The owner of the 
woolen petticoat was an ancestor of the late John R. 
Adan of Boston. 

Another story is said to have come directly from 
Mrs. Mary Lincoln, daughter of Paul Revere: On 
reaching his boat Revere found he had forgotten his 
spurs. " Writing a note to that effect, he tied it to 
his dog's collar and sent him to his home in North 
Square. In due time the dog returned bringing the 
spurs." 

The moon was rising as they rowed past the 
Somerset, and such good time did they make that 

105 



THE STORY OF THE RIDE 

And turned and tightened his saddle-girth, 
But mostly he watched with eager search 
The belfry-tower of the Old North Church, 
As it rose above the graves on the hill, 
Lonely and spectral and somber and still. 
And lo ! as he looks on the belfry's height 
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light ! 
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns, 
But lingers and gazes, till full of his sight 
A second lamp in the belfry burns ! 

As a matter of fact, Paul Revere knew quite well 
before leaving Boston that the British were to go by 
water. The signals were not put there to inform 
him, but to warn the countryside. The faithful 
friend watched and waited in the " creepy " belfry 
until 

— suddenly all his thoughts are bent 
On a shadowy something far away, 
Where the river widens to meet the bay, — 
A line of black that bends and floats 
On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats. 

Without a doubt it was a " bridge of boats " for 
had he not met soldiers hurrying by in the streets 
and heard 

The measured tread of the grenadiers, — 
Marching down to their boats on the shore — 

107 



PAUL REVERE 

and was this friend not patriot enough to know- 
why? 

Paul Revere had received the hurry call from Dr. 
Warren at ten o'clock at night. In one hour's time 
he had made all his arrangements and had crossed 
the ferry. At eleven he was mounted and on his 
way to Lexington. He had been warned at Charles- 
town by Richard Devens, one of the Committee 
of Safety, that in coming from Lexington to 
Charlestown after sundown that evening he had met 
ten British officers — all well-mounted and armed 
— going up the road. Revere remembered this 
warning when a little way out of Charlestown, past 
Charlestown Neck, he met two British officers 
mounted and armed as Deven had described. 

" One," he writes, " tried to get ahead of me, and 
the other to take me, but I turned my horse very 
quickly and galloped towards Charlestown Neck, 
and then pushed for the Medford road. The one 
who chased me — endeavoring to cut me off — - got 
into a clay pond, near where the new tavern is now 
built. I got clear of him and went through Med- 
ford, over the bridge and up to Menotomy." 

Those who have heard the stillness of the night 
io8 



THE STORY OF THE RIDE 

broken by the hard galloping of a horse can well 
imagine how the countryside was roused on that 
eventful night. At Med ford he awoke the captain 
of the Minute Men and the bells began to ring the 
alarm; each village in turn caught it up, and its 
own bell pealed forth the message to its neighbor, 
until presently, in the sweet spring dawn of April 
19, the clash of resonant sound woke the echoes of 
the wooded hills. 

Now Concord's bell resounding many a mile, 
Is heard by Lincoln — Lincoln's by Carlisle, 
Carlisle's by Chelmsford, and from Chelmsford's swell 
Peals the loud clangour of th' alarum bell, 
Till it o'er Bedford, Acton, Westford spreads. 
Startling the morning dreamers from their beds. 

These were the towns directly in the line of his 
ride, and the Minute Men mustered at the call. It 
must be remembered also that the messenger, Mr. 
Dawes whom Warren had sent to Lexington by way 
of Boston Neck, roused in his turn all the farms 
and villages lying on the other side of C':>ncord. 
But his journey, though a longer one, was free of 
danger, for all forces were now concentrating along 
the route Paul Revere had taken. No need for 
secrecy now. On, on, the good horse galloped, his 

109 '• 



PAUL REVERE 

rider shouting his message as he went, the people 
coming out of their houses rubbing their sleepy 
eyes; the women, the very children, helping their 
men, while the messenger sped on. 

A hurry of hoofs in a village street, 

A shape iu the moonHght, a bulk in the dark. 

And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark 

Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet : 

That was all ! And yet, through the gloom and the light, 

The fate of a nation was riding that night. 

Certainly, Longfellow has painted vividly the 
picture of that daring ride, a far more beautiful pic- 
ture than we have from the pen of one, Eb. Stiles, 
who wrote twenty years after the battle of Lex- 
ington, 

He spared neither horse, nor whip, nor spur, 

As he galloped through mud and mire, 

He thought of naught but liberty. 

And the lanterns that hung from the spire. 

Somehow we like better to think that the good 
horse did not have to be thus goaded on his errand, 
but was a " steed flying fearless and fleet." We 
would rather imagine sparks struck out from the 
pebbles than have our hero wallowing in " mud and 
mire." 

no 



THE STORY OF THE RIDE 

On reaching Lexington, Revere learned that Han- 
cock and Adams were still with the little party at 
Mr. Clark's house. Mr. Dawes reached Lexington 
half an hour later, after an uneventful ride. On the 
evening of April i8, the guests at Mr. Jonas Clark's 
house had gathered around a cheerful fire, but they 
talked in low tones and their faces were grave. 
Boston was in sad plight, for the menace of the 
soldiers had sent people flying from the city. The 
clamor of the King's men for the two " arch trai- 
tors," as Hancock and Adams were called, struck 
terror to hearts of those who heard. When, after 
an evening of quiet talk, the household retired, they 
little knew of the events that were crowding about 
their very doors. Even then Paul Revere was rid- 
ing through the night and 

It was one by the village clock, 
When he galloped into Lexington, 

and dismounted at Mr. Clark's door. John Pier- 
pont, a popular poet of the day, whose facts were 
truer than his rimes, wrote of the ride, 

The foremost, Paul Revere, 

At Warren's bidding has the gauntlet run 

Unscathed, and dashing into Lexington, 

III 



PAUL REVERE 

While midnight wraps him in her mantle dark. 
Halts at the house of Reverend Mr. Clark. 

Truly, a bold, unshaded picture of one of the great 
deeds in history. 

He found the house guarded by eight men under 
Sergeant Munroe who begged him to make no noise. 
" Noise ! " cried Paul Revere. " You'll soon have 
a noise that will disturb you all. The British 
troops are on their march and will soon be among 
you." 

At this, Hancock, recognizing his voice, cried, 
*' Come in, Revere, we're not afraid of you! " But 
Revere counseled prudence; if they stayed where 
they were, exposed to capture, many valuable lives 
would be lost and time wasted; he advised instant 
flight, away from Boston and its neighborhood, on 
towards Philadelphia and New York, where their 
services might be needed. 

Stopping only to rest and feed his horse, he joined 
the other messenger, Dawes, and rode on to Con- 
cord to save the stores. They were overtaken by 
young Dr. Prescott, an ardent Son of Liberty, who 
had been to Lexington to visit the young lady to 
whom he was engaged, and was returning to Con- 

112 



THE STORY OF THE RIDE 

cord. The three gentlemen, for safety, rode to- 
gether, keeping a sharp lookout for the ten British 
officers of whom Paul Revere had heard at Charles- 
town. They determined to alarm every house they 
passed, and were nearly halfway to Concord before 
anything happened. At this point the narrative of 
Revere grows in interest. 

" We had got nearly halfway," he writes. " Mr. 
Dawes and the Doctor stopped to alarm the people 
of a house ; I was about a hundred yards ahead when 
I saw two men in nearly the same situation as those 
officers were, near Charlestown. I called for the 
Doctor and Mr. Dawes to come up ; in an instant I 
was surrounded by four; — they had placed them- 
selves in a straight road, that inclined each way; 
they had taken down a pair of bars on the north 
side of the road and two of them were under a tree 
in the pasture. The Doctor being foremost, he 
came up and we tried to get past them ; but they be- 
ing armed with pistols and swords, they forced us 
into the pasture; the Doctor jumped his horse over 
a low stone walr, and got to Concord. I observed 
a wood at a small distance, and made for that. 
When I got there, out started six officers on horse- 

113 



PAUL REVERE 

back and ordered me to dismount ; one of them who 
appeared to have the command, examined me, where 
I came from and what my name was. I told him it 
was Revere. He asked me if it was Paul? I told 
him yes." 

The following conversation is reported between 
the prisoner and his captors : 

" Gentlemen, you have missed your aim," said 
Revere, " I left Boston after your troops had landed 
at Lechmere Point, and if I had not been certain that 
the people to the distance of fifty miles into the 
country, had been notified of your movements, I 
would have risked one shot before you should have 
taken me. 

" I told him," continues Revere, " that their 
troops had catched aground in passing the river and 
that there would be five hundred Americans there in 
a short time, for I had alarmed the country all the 
way up. He immediately rode towards those who 
stopped us, when all five of them came down upon 
a full gallop. One of them, whom I afterwards 
found to be a Major Mitchel, of the 5th Regiment, 
clapped his pistol to my head, called me by name, 
and told me he was going to ask me some 

114 



THE STORY OF THE RIDE 

questions, and if I did not give him true answers he 
would blow my brains out." 

Then Revere was set upon his horse, his bridle 
put in the hands of a sergeant, and they rode back 
toward Lexington. Here they heard the militia fir- 
ing and were greatly alarmed. At this point they 
made their prisoner dismount and give his horse to 
the sergeant, who turned his own loose and rode ofif, 
leaving Paul Revere to find his way, as best he could, 
back to the Clark house, where Hancock and 
Adams were preparing for flight. One account 
says : " Just then a church bell was heard ; then 
another, when one of the Lexington prisoners 
said, * The bells are' ringing — the town is 
alarmed — you are dead men.' The frightened 
officers left their prisoners and fled towards 
Boston." 

In the family of Captain Larkin Turner of 
Charlestown there is a tradition which states that 
" Deacon John Larkin's best horse was rode to its 
death by Paul Revere." But there is no doubt that 
the horse was alive when taken from Revere by the 
British officer. There is also no doubt that Revere 
did ride him hard, and he might have died from 

115 



PAUL REVERE 

exhaustion when in the possession of his new 
owners. 

Revere accompanied Adams, Hancock, and Miss 
Dorothy Quincy — then engaged to Hancock — as 
far as Woburn Precinct, Burlington, where they re- 
ceived a hearty welcome at the precinct parsonage, 
but just as they were sitting down to a bountiful 
meal some one rushed in with a false alarm and the 
two patriots took to the woods. Guided by a negro 
slave named Cuff, they reached the home of one 
Amos Wyman, where they were very glad to eat a 
good, hearty meal of boiled salt pork, cold potatoes, 
and brown bread, for by this time they were nearly 
famished. Later they made good their escape, but 
how long they remained in the seclusion of this 
forest hut is not known. The effort of their friends 
was to keep them out of the clutches of General 
Gage, whose one desire was to arrest them for high 
treason and send them to England for trial. Cer- 
tain it is, however, that Hancock was a delegate to 
the Continental Congress which met in Philadelphia 
on the loth of May, and as early as May 7 he wrote 
a letter to Miss Quincy, dated from New York ; but 
prudence as well as many unforeseen events kept 

116 



THE STORY OF THE RIDE 

both Hancock and Adams from entering Boston 
again until General Washington forced the British 
out and occupied the city. 

Paul Revere and Mr. Lowell, one of Hancock's 
clerks, having left the fugitives at Woburn Precinct, 
returned to Lexington in order to get a trunk be- 
longing to Mr. Hancock, which was in a certain 
room in the tavern. The trunk contained valuable 
papers. While doing this, they saw the British 
coming in full march. They caught up the trunk, 
escaping with it to Mr, Clark's house just 
as the British soldiers surrounded the meeting- 
house. 

The old Clark house in Lexington is still standing, 
and a tablet bearing the following inscription has 
been placed upon it. 

ENLARGED 1734- 

RESIDENCE OF 

REV. JOHN HANCOCK, 55 YEARS, 

AND OF HIS SUCCESSOR, 

REV. JONAS CLARK, 50 YEARS. 

HERE SAMUEL ADAMS AND JOHN HANCOCK WERE 

SLEEPING, WHEN AROUSED BY PAUL REVERE. 

APRIL 19, 1775. 

Paul Revere never reached Concord as Longfel- 
117 



PAUL REVERE 

low, with a poet's license, tried to tell us. Dr. Pres- 
cott, who had made his escape when the others were 
captured, arrived in time to join the Minute Men 
in defense of the brave little town which bore the 
brunt of the fray at the North Bridge. There 
many heroes fought and fell, for the Minute Men 
were all heroes, and a wonderful band they were. 
Each man of them went forth to battle for his home, 
to strike a blow for liberty, in the service of his 
country. They came from every farm and vil- 
lage in Middlesex County, and they opposed a solid 
front to the advancing columns of British regulars. 
Their leaders were all men of cool judgment, de- 
termined above all things not to fire first, and it 
is pretty safe to say that the British volleys drew 
the first blood of the Revolution. 

History would have recorded a different and dire- 
ful tale had it not been for Paul Revere's midnight 
ride. It would be too much to say that it won for 
us our independence, but it certainly gave the col- 
onists a chance to show the English people that they 
were not to be trifled with, while the fight at Con- 
cord bridge made the British regulars a laughing 
stock for many a long year. 

ii8 



THE STORY OF THE RmE 

You know the rest. In the books you have read, 
How the British Regulars fired and fled, — 
How the farmers gave them ball for ball, 
From behind each fence and farmyard wall, 
Chasing the red-coats down the lane, 
Then crossing the fields to emerge again 
Under the trees at the turn of the road. 
And only pausing to fire and load. 

So through the night rode Paul Revere ! 

And so, through the night went his cry of alarm 

To every Middlesex village and farm, — 

A cry of defiance and not of fear 

A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door 

And a word that shall echo forevermore ! 

For, borne on the night-wind of the Past 

Through all our history to the last. 

In the hour of darkness and peril and need 

The people will waken and listen to hear 

The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed. 

And the midnight message of Paul Revere. 



VI 

WHO HUNG THE SIGNAL LANTERNS? 



VI 

WHO HUNG THE SIGNAL LANTERNS? 

He said to his friend, " If the British march 
By land or sea from the town to-night, — 
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch 
Of the North Church tower — as a signal light. 
One if by land and two if by sea — " 

WHO was this " friend " in whom Paul 
Revere had such confidence, whose 
loyalty was so unquestioned as to be 
trusted with such an important commission as plac- 
ing the lights? It is strange that his name was 
never mentioned by Paul Revere. At that time, of 
course, secrecy was the watchword, and for many 
years to come, to disclose the name of him who hung 
the lights would have been to deliver him over to 
the anger of the British. Paul Revere was a man 
to whom a pledge of secrecy was a pledge of honor, 
besides which, the mysterious hero may have had 
reasons of his own for concealing his identity. 

123 



PAUL REVERE 

Embedded in the tower of the Old North Church, 
or Christ Church as it is now called, is a large tablet 
of granite, bearing this inscription : 

THE SIGNAL LANTERNS OF 

PAUL REVERE 

DISPLAYED IN THE STEEPLE OF THIS CHURCH 

APRIL l8, 1775 

WARNED THE COUNTRY OF THE MARCH 

OF THE BRITISH TROOPS TO 

LEXINGTON AND CONCORD 

It seems strange, too, that Paul Revere, whose 
generous spirit never withheld just praise, should 
have neglected to bestow it where it was certainly 
deserved — that he should not have mentioned some- 
where in his numerous memoranda the name of this 
friend and so set at rest the controversy between 
two families claiming the honor — the descendants 
of Robert Newman, at that time sexton of North 
Church, and John Pulling whose intimacy with 
Paul Revere dated from boyhood. The only rea- 
son for this reticence might have been the fact 
that Revere himself might have had his doubts as to 
who carried out his request. Sufficient that the 
lights flashed their message before he reached the 
Charlestown shore and warned the countryside. 

124 



WHO HUNG THE SIGNAL LANTERNS? 

Historians who have looked deep into the matter, 
give unstinted credit to Robert Newman for a deed 
which has been chronicled among deeds of heroism. 
They claim that Robert Newman being on the spot 
and a trusted servant of the Church certainly knew 
exactly how to get up to the steeple and place his 
lanterns without attracting notice; he was known 
also as a friend to the colonists, and while not per- 
sonally intimate with Paul Revere, his two older 
brothers had gone to Master John Tileston's school 
with the goldsmith's son. Mr. W. W. Wheildon 
has dedicated his pamphlet, " History of Paul 
Revere's Signal Lanterns, April i8, 1775, in the 
steeple of the North Church," 

TO THE MEMORY OF 

JOSEPH WARREN 

WHO PROMPTED THE PATRIOTIC MOVEMENTS 

OF APRIL 18 

PAUL REVERE 

WHOSE FORESIGHT PROVIDED FOR THE SIGNAL 

LANTERNS 

ROBERT NEWMAN 

WHO DISPLAYED THE LANTERNS FROM THE 

CHURCH STEEPLE 

AND THEIR PATRIOTIC ASSOCIATES 

THIS VOLUME 

IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 

BY THE AUTHOR 



PAUL REVERE 

All this shows very plainly his belief in Robert 
Newman and this seems to be the prevailing belief 
in Boston where every memento of the old Revo- 
lutionary sexton is treasured — and little sayings 
have been stored away in the memory of each suc- 
ceeding generation of Newmans. 

The historians argue, too, and wisely enough, that 
only the sexton could be sure of his footing high up 
in the belfry tower; every beam and rafter must 
have been familiar; and he was right on the spot, 
besides, which made it a much simpler matter, for 
with the British soldiers guarding the streets few 
could come and go without questioning. 

Yet danger beset even the honest sexton if the 
family records tell us true, for he had been obliged 
to house some English officers and on this special 
night he was eagerly looking for a friend, a sea 
captain who had been waiting the movements of the 
Regulars. 

In April, 1875, at the centennial celebration of the 
hanging of the lanterns, all honor was done to Rob- 
ert Newman's descendants. 

At the given hour " his direct descendant walked 
out of the vestry with his lighted lanterns and down 

126 



WHO HUNG THE SIGNAL LANTERNS? 

the crowded aisle up into the tower where, one hun- 
dred years after, he hung out the hghted memorial 
lanterns." 

Rev. Henry Burroughs, the Rector of the church 
at that time (1875) gave a memorial sermon on the 
occasion and the decorous throng of worshipers 
quite lost their heads in the excitement as they lived 
over that never-to-be-forgotten time at Lexington 
and Concord. 

" Mr. Newman," the Rector said, " succeeded in 
eluding the vigilance of his unwelcome guests, took 
down the church keys, and with two lanterns in his 
hand, went out, met his friend, heard the news he 
brought, opened the church door and locked it again 
after him, and went. 

By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread 
To the belfry chamber overhead. 

The enthusiastic Rector further adds: "If Rob- 
ert Newman's courage or patience, firmness or self- 
control had failed him for an instant, Paul Revere 
would have looked in vain across the dark waters 
at the tall steeple rising above Copp's Hill." 

The good Rector allowed his imagination to soar 
in this eloquent paragraph. As a matter of fact we 

127 



PAUL REVERE 

Know that the signals flashed out while Paul Revere 
was being rowed to the opposite shore, and on land- 
ing he learned from various people whom he met 
that the signals had been seen. 

The Rev. Mr. Burroughs further tells us: 
" When his task was done, Mr. Newman came down, 
passed through the Church, jumped out of the win- 
dow, went around through Unity and Bennett 
Streets to his house and succeeded in entering it 
without being observed. The British found him in 
bed. They arrested him and threw him into jail, 
but he had taken such wise precautions that nothing 
could be proved." 

The weak point of this narrative seems to be that 
the British officers quartered in his house did not 
notice his absence at the time. 

Perhaps the proud descendants of Robert New- 
man have the right of it — who can tell! The ac- 
count of the hanging of the lanterns is very dra- 
matic, and tradition has made a good story of it, but 
real history cannot be based upon tradition, which 
is all we have to go by. Consequently the counter 
claim of John Pulling's descendants cannot fail to 
be of interest. 

128 




" ' By the trembling ladder so steep and tall 
To the highest window in the wall.' " 



WHO HUNG THE SIGNAL LANTERNS? 

In 1876, one year after the centennial celebration 
in Christ Church, the Rev. John Lee Watson, a de- 
scendant of John Pulling, published in the Boston 
Advertiser an article, afterwards printed in pam- 
phlet form, proving to his own satisfaction and that 
of his many followers, that John Pulling was the 
man who climbed, 

By the trembling ladder so steep and tall 
To the highest window in the wall. 

He begins by tracing the movements on that most 
eventful night : " At ten o'clock Paul Revere was 
sent for by Dr. Warren, who informed him of the 
intended march of the British to Lexington and 
Concord and begged him to proceed immediately to 
Lexington to acquaint Hancock and Adams of the 
movement. He left Dr. Warren's residence in 
Hanover Street and then called upon a friend (his 
most intimate friend, John Pulling) and desired him 
to make the signals. (Paul Revere's oft-quoted 
words.) 

Dr. Watson continues : 

" No one who knows anything of Paul Revere 
will for a moment suppose that having been en- 
trusted with an important duty, he would have com- 

129 



PAUL REVERE 

mitted this most perilous part of it to any one but 
a friend in whose prudence or courage he could 
confide for life or death. Such a man was John 
Pulling; he had been from boyhood his (Revere's) 
most intimate friend ; he had shared with him in the 
hopes and fears and deep anxieties of Warren and 
Hancock and Adams and had been acquainted with 
their most secret plans for alarming the people 
about the intentions of General Gage. 

" As soon as he received his notice he left his 
house and watching his time went over to the sex- 
ton's in the same street (Salem) and asked for the 
keys of the church which as he was a vestryman, 
the sexton could not refuse to give him. He then 
went into the church, locking himself in; and climb- 
ing to the upper window of the steeple, he there 
waited for a favorable moment and then hung out 
the signal of two lanterns as had been agreed 
upon by which those on the other side would know 
that the British were going by water. . . . 

" When it was discovered by the British author- 
ities that the signals had been made from Christ 
Church a search was immediately set, for the rebel 
who made them. The sexton of the church was 

130 



WHO HUNG THE SIGNAL LANTERNS? 

suspected and arrested. He protested his innocence 
and when questioned declared that the keys of the 
church were demanded of him at a late hour by Mr. 
Pulling, who being a vestryman, he thought had a 
right to them, and after he had given them up 
he had gone to bed again and that was all he 
knew about it." This answer was sufficient 
to procure his release and turn the search towards 
Mr. PuUing. 

Certain it is that had the British for one moment 
suspected the sexton they would have made short 
work of him. His straightforward replies cleared 
him but John Pulling made his escape that very 
night having been warned by friends that he had 
better leave town as soon as possible with his family. 

He escaped disguised as a laborer, in a small craft 
which landed him and his family at Nantasket, 
where they lived in absolute want until the siege 
of Boston was raised and they were able to return 
to the city. 

Putting aside the traditions in his family, the 
Rev. Mr. Watson says : " And is it within the 
bounds of probability that the sexton of the church 
perhaps no better and no worse than sextons usually 

131 



PAUL REVERE 

were at that time — could have been such a 
friend of Paul Revere, and also an associate of War- 
ren, Hancock and Adams, acquainted with all their 
secrets and sharing in their counsels? And I ask, Is 
there a man living in Boston, who, with all the 
knowledge we have of the truly noble character of 
Paul Revere, can believe, that he violated his solemn 
oath to Almighty God by intrusting to the sexton 
of the Church that secret which he had ' sworn upon 
the Bible he would discover to no one except to 
the Committees, Warren, Hancock, Adams and one 
or two others ' " ? 

John Pulling was a Son of Liberty. Conse- 
quently he knew all the secrets of that secret body. 
He was a patriot at heart, so he needed no spur to 
this heroic deed. 

In Paul Revere's personal account of the famous 
ride many years after, it seems strange that he, too, 
like the rest of the world, seemed to ignore the in- 
estimable service rendered by the " friend " who 
hung out the signal lanterns, though he has carefully 
handed down to later generations the names of the 
two men who rowed him across the Charles River 
within gunshot of the Somerset, British man-of- 

132 



WHO HUNG THE SIGNAL LANTERNS? 

war — Thomas Richardson and Joshua Bentley, 
both of whom afterwards fought honorably in the 
Revolution. 

Perhaps even at this early date the two rival fam- 
ilies were disputing as to who hung out the lights. 
John Pulling died in 1787, four years after the close 
of the war, and as he was in exile many of the inter- 
vening years it was somewhat difficult to get at his 
version of the story. Just now the question is left 
with the descendants of both sides — all well- 
known, honorable people who glory in the deed 
as handed down from generation to generation. 
Many wise and logical arguments have been used to 
prove the claim of either one side or the other but 
always the question comes back to those who are 
outside the controversy — who, after all, really 
hung out the signal lanterns? 

In none of the many able articles written on the 
subject has it ever been suggested that possibly the 
two men might have undertaken this duty in com- 
pany. 

Let us suppose, for instance, that John Pulling 
had been the " friend " to whom Paul Revere hur- 
ried on the night of the ride. The first idea, of 

133 



PAUL REVERE 

course, would have been to go to the church and 
get the keys from Robert Newman, the sexton. 
Newman himself said that John Pulling did this — 
so far, so good. Now the way of those old-time 
belfry stairs was a perilous way, and it is not to be 
Imagined that even a venturesome person unac- 
quainted with their unexpected windings and turn- 
ings could have reached " the highest window in the 
wall " in safety unless guided by some one to whom 
the ascent was familiar. What more natural than 
that the sexton whose sympathies were with the 
colonists, who knew in a vague unexplained way 
that something important was about to happen, 
should have offered to show the way and should also 
have insisted on carrying the lanterns which were to 
light the way to freedom? It not only seems pos- 
sible that such a thing might have happened, but 
highly probable, for Robert Newman was fairly cer- 
tain of Pulling's escape before he told about hand- 
ing over the church keys. That his story was be- 
lieved even by the suspicious British soldiers was 
proved by the fact that he was allowed to keep his 
position as sexton through all the excitement which 
followed, while John Pulling was disguised as a 

134 



WHO HUNG THE SIGNAL LANTERNS? 

laborer when he made his escape and did not dare to 
show his face in Boston for many a long day. 

This is just one of the mysteries in which history 
sometimes veils herself. The fact is there — the 
glorious palpable fact that out into the night, that 
wonderful night when Paul Revere took the ride 
which decided the fate of a nation, flashed the warn- 
ing lights upon the sleeping countryside. Fancy 
the moment — the shadowy houses in the roadside, 
their inmates wrapped in slumber, then the tramp, 
tramp, the pounding hoofbeats of Paul Revere's 
good steed ; and as the roused people rushed into the 
open, there in the distant steeple the two lights told 
their story — the two lights like two stars of 
Heaven shining down upon the awakened New 
World. 

After all, what does it matter who did it or how 
• — so long as it was an accomplished fact? Some 
day, perhaps, when some ancient, forgotten record 
is unearthed, we may find the true story, but only 
Paul Revere really knew, and so far as we can glean 
and for what reason we will never understand, he 
kept that secret from the world. 



135 



VII 
ACROSS THE RIVER 



VII 

ACROSS THE RIVER 

DURING the days of excitement which fol- 
lowed the Battle of Lexington, Paul Re- 
vere remained quietly at Charlestown. 
He had passed through a period of almost incredible 
exertion and if, as tradition tells us, he rode Squire 
Larkin's horse to death, it is more than likely that he 
himself was worn out, not only with the hard rid- 
ing, but from the unpleasant sensation of being sev- 
eral times jerked back as it were from the very jaws 
of death. Fortunately for him, there was nothing 
unusual in the staid, sober, and somewhat heavily 
built gentleman to excite suspicion, and though he 
was known to be an ardent patriot, it is doubtful if 
any save a few trusted friends knew of that wild 
ride of April i8, and how he had done everything in 
his power to aid the two " arch-traitors," as the 
English called Samuel Adams and John Hancock, 
in their flight across the country. But for his quick 

139 



PAUL REVERE 

thought and action the two leaders would surely 
have been trapped, loaded with chains, and shipped 
to London, which meant the Tower and the block. 

As time went on, however, this trifling service was 
quite overlooked and the citizen soldier who longed 
so ardently for active duty in the Continental army 
found his request set aside or forgotten by the very 
men who but for him would not have lived to rule. 

Meantime in Boston, after the return of the worn 
and jaded soldiers, dire confusion prevailed. The 
English rule pressed heavily upon the citizens, and 
Joseph Warren and the Committee of Safety had 
all they could do to keep the peace. Many families 
were eager to leave town, and among these very 
naturally was the family of Paul Revere, for it 
seemed probable that the head of the house would 
not be able to return, as there was work for him still 
to do, and rumor had it that Governor Gage was 
concentrating his forces in Boston and preparing for 
a possible siege of the city. 

Passes were being issued for permission to cross 
the ferry and Paul Revere became anxious about the 
removal of his household. He fretted because he 
could not be on hand to superintend things, for our 

140 



ACROSS THE RIVER 

patriotic mechanic had a fairly good opinion of his 
own powers, but he was blessed with an energetic 
wife who, the moment the die was cast, had begun 
active preparations to rejoin her husband. In this 
she was ably assisted by Paul, Junior, who was now 
nearing the age when he began to have serious 
thoughts of entering the army. The following let- 
ter from Paul, Senior, to his wife shows how very 
careful he always was about details, whether private 
or public. 

" My dear Girl : he writes, [he punctuates and 
uses capitals at his own sweet will.] 

" I received your favor yesterday. I am glad you 
have got yourself ready. If you find that you can- 
not easily get a pass for the boat, I would have you 
get a pass for yourself and children and effects. 
Send the most valuable first. I mean that you 
should send Beds enough for yourself and Chil- 
dren, my chest, your trunk with Books, Clothes and 
etc. to the ferry tell the ferryman they are mine. I 
will provide a house here where to put them & will 
be here to receive them. After Beds are come over, 
come with the Children, except Paul, pray order 
him by all means to keep at home that he may help 
bring the things to the ferry, tell him not to come 

141 



PAUL REVERE 

till I send for him. You must hire somebody to 
help you. You may get brother Thomas, lett Isaac 
Clemmons, if he has a mind to take care of the shop 
and maintain himself there, he may, or do as he 
has a mind, put some sugar in a Raisin cask or 
some such thing an such necessarys as we shall 
want. Tell Betty, My Mother, Mrs. Metcalf if 
they think to stay as we talked at first, tell them I 
will supply them with all the cash and other things 
in my power but if they think to come away, I will 
do all in my power to provide for them, perhaps be- 
fore this week is out there will be liberty for Boats 
to go to Notomy, then we can take them all. If 
you send the things to the ferry send enough to fill a 
cart, them that are the most wanted. ... I want 
some linnen and stockings very much. Tell Paul 
I expect he'l behave himself well and attend to my 
business, and not be out of the way. My kind love 
to our parents & our Children Brothers & Sisters 
& all friends." 

It is curious to note the workings of this practical 
mind and if we pause for a moment to make the 
connecting links of capitals and forgotten punctua- 
tion marks, the clear concise directions stand out in 
bold relief, for, as we can imagine, Mrs. Paul with 
her big family had her hands full in making her 

142 



ACROSS THE RIVER 

preparations for her flight across the river. The 
following letter shows how much dependence the 
older Paul placed upon the younger one: 

•'• My Son, 

" It is now in your power to be serviceable to me 
your mother and yourself. I beg you will keep 
yourself at home or where your Mother sends you. 
Dont you come away till I send you word. When 
you bring anything to the ferry tell them its mine 
& mark it with my name. 

" Your loving Father, 

" P. R." 

Still one more letter from Mrs. Paul will give us 
some idea of the confusion that reigned in Boston 
Town fully two weeks after the British regulars 
had " fired and fled " back into the shelter of the 
city, and if even the Reveres were stirred out of 
their usual calm, one can easily imagine the panic 
that possessed the staid and sober inhabitants. The 
harassed lady wrote as follows: 

" Boston, 2 May 5 o'clock afternoon 75. 
" Dear Paul, 

" I am very glad to hear you say you are easy for 
I thought you were very impatient but I cannot say 

143 



PAUL REVERE 

I was pleased at hearing you aplyed to Capt. Irvin 
for a pass as I should rather confer 50 obligations 
on them than to receive one from them. I am al- 
most sure of one as soon as they are given out I was 
at Mr. Scolay's yesterday and his son has been here 
today and to tel me he went to the room and gave 
mine and Deacon Jeffers name to his Father when 
no other person was admitted. I hope things will 
be settled on easier terms soon. I have not re- 
ceived a line from you to say till this moment why 
have you altered your mind in regard to Pauls com- 
ing with us? this Capt. Irvin says he has not re- 
ceived any letter and I send by this 2 bottles beer i 
wine for his servant. [Sly Mrs. Revere! She was 
using a little bribery to hurry this issuing of her 
pass.] do my dear [she continues] take care of 
yourself. . . . you should be glad to know that 
your coat is well made — John did not incline to 
cloth and I spoke to Mr. Boit he engaged to make it 
if he could not get a pass but as he has that in pros- 
pect he cannot I have got a woman to make Pauls 
in the house and if you choose I will ask John to cut 
it and get her to make it she is a very good work- 
woman. . . . 

" Yours with affection, 

"R. Revere." 



144 



ACROSS THE RIVER 

A certain Ezra Collins who wrote to Charlestown 
to ask some favor of Paul Revere adds in a post- 
script. " Mrs. Revere expects a pass this morn- 
ing " and the following note confirms this state- 
ment: 

" Mr Rievere, — We have waited since eleven 
oclock in Expectation of Thomas Anjous arrival 
at the Chas Town Ferry. You will please Sir to 
send over word by the next Boat whether he is 
coming & what time he will be ready to come over 
— Mrs Rievere Informed Capt Irving this morn- 
ing (by me) that you had some Veal & Beef to send 
over which will be very acceptable, we are ready 
to receive Mr. Anjou when he comes & Capt Irving 
would be glad you would hasten his coming as much 
as possible 

— " There is a pass ready for Mrs. Rievere, Fam- 
ily & Effects, as soon as Thomas Anjou comes over 
" I am S"" y*" Humble Servt 

" Jas Singer, Serg't 27th. 

"By Desire of 

Capt Irving 
Ferry % past i oclock 

To Mr Rievere 
Chas Town." 

145 



PAUL REVERE 

Now whether this Thomas Anjou referred to in 
the letter was held on the other side of the river 
as a sort of hostage until Mrs. Revere had secured 
the promised passes, history does not tell us ; all that 
we know for certain is that some time during the 
first week in May the family was reunited, and 
shortly after, Paul Revere' s talent as an engraver 
was called into active service. 

There was no doubt that the open rebellion on the 
part of the colonists would not end with the skir- 
mish at Concord Bridge. Both sides had now deter- 
mined to fight it out to the finish and while the Eng- 
lish were well armed, well drilled, well provisioned, 
and well-to-do, the Americans lacked everything — 
even the common currency to trade among them- 
selves. It was necessary to provide some sort of 
paper money for this purpose since there was such 
a shortage of gold and silver. The soldiers who 
volunteered their services at the commencement of 
hostilities had left their families without support 
and were clamoring for pay, so the Continental Con- 
gress then in session in Philadelphia decided to issue 
bank notes representing the sum of £100,000, and 
Paul Revere was waited upon by a committee of the 

146 



ACROSS THE RIVER 

Provincial Congress which was sitting at Water- 
town, who asked him if he would be willing to un- 
dertake the engraving of these notes, as in all the 
colonies there were none so skilled in this work as 
himself. So a copper-plate w^as procured on which 
Paul Revere engraved his designs, and he also made 
a press which was set up in the house of one John 
Cook who also lived in Watertown and who was 
paid the enormous sum of twelve shillings " for the 
use Mr. Revere made of his house whilst he was 
striking off the colony notes therein." It is still 
standing, this first treasury building of America, and 
looks like a thousand other old-fashioned New Eng- 
land homesteads, bare-looking and uncomfortable, 
bereft of porch or gallery and hinting of horsehair 
and hard uncompromising wooden chair-backs in 
the front " best room." 

The notes were ordered on May 3, 1775, and 
with his customary energy the engraver fell to work. 
He became for the time being a most important per- 
sonage, being guarded while he printed the notes 
which represented a great deal more money than the 
needy colonists held in their treasury, but as the gold 
and silver necessary to redeem them did not have to 

147 



PAUL REVERE 

be paid out until June i, 1777, the notes in the mean- 
time could have free circulation among the people 
and stood, for them, in the place of the gold and 
silver which v^ere so scarce. 

The study of a nation's money affairs is such an 
interesting one that it seems a pity that our young 
Americans have so little knowledge of how the pub- 
lic purse strings are worked. But in Paul Revere's 
time it was a simple problem ; the colonies were pov- 
erty-stricken, and as they had no real money to speak 
of they needed at least something to represent it, 
and Paul Revere's paper money was the next best 
thing. These notes, for each one of which a special 
copper-plate had to be engraved, were of four vari- 
ous sums, from £4 up and from six shillings up, and 
the busy engraver and printer had to work day and 
night until all the notes were struck off. The shil- 
ling notes were called " soldiers' notes," ranging 
from six to nine, twelve, fourteen, fifteen, seventeen, 
eighteen, and twenty shillings, and there were over 
four thousand notes of each denomination, while 
Congress clamored to Mr. Revere " to attend to the 
business of stamping the notes for the soldiers all 
the ensuing night if he can and to finish them with 

148 



ACROSS THE RIVER 

the greatest dispatch possible," also desiring him 
to take care " that he does not leave his engraving 
press exposed when he is absent from it," for coun- 
terfeiters were abroad and any clever rascal could 
work the simple press they used in those days. 

As soon as that first printing was done, the Con- 
tinental Congress took charge of those precious 
copper-plates and Paul Revere rendered for his in- 
valuable services the following very moderate bill: 

The Colony of Massachusetts Bay, 
To Paul Revere, Dr. 

1775 
June 22 To Engraving four copper plates for 

Colony notes at £6 each £24.0 

To printing 14,500 Impressions at £3, 6, 8 
per Thousand £48.6.8 



£72.6.8 



Congress argued and bargained him down to fifty 
pounds, and we have no record of any further op- 
position on his part, for after that he was constantly 
employed. His next issue of notes being called 
" sword in hand money " from the fact that on the 
back of each bill was the figure of an American with 
a sword in his right hand, bearing the Latin inscrip- 

149 



PAUL REVERE 

tion : Ense Petit Placidam Sub Libertate Quietam 
(meaning : by the sword he seeks repose, settled un- 
der Hberty). In his left hand he held the famous 
Magna Charta, every free-born citizen's privilege 
from the time of King John of England. Around 
the figure were these words, " Issued in defense of 
American Liberty." All this, be it remembered, 
was Paul Revere's design, but so accustomed were 
his contemporaries to his ingenuity that they re- 
garded the work he did as a matter of course, never 
pausing to consider that there were few, if any, 
among the colonists who possessed this remarkable 
artistic talent as well as the gift of invention. 

Many of these notes and bills have been preserved 
and also the copper-plates from which Paul Revere 
printed and reprinted many hundreds of thousands 
of American money, and the national credit was up- 
held by his skilled aid. Yet later, in 1791, when 
the government established a national mint and he 
applied for a position of trust in that department, 
Fisher Ames, the Massachusetts Representative in 
Congress, to whom he wrote, put him off with this 
reply — as quoted from his letter : 

" The Secretary of State in one of his reports 
150 



ACROSS THE RIVER 

has advised having the coinage under the immediate 
direction of Government and recommends a man 
who probably would be employed. However, your 
known ingenuity might qualify you for it. The cir- 
cumstances will not much encourage the hope of an 
appointment." 

This to a man who had come to his country's help 
at every turn — his ingenuity was carelessly recog- 
nized, but the bravery, the patience, the persever- 
ance, and the indomitable energy which had been 
such a support in the hour of need were forgotten 
when citizen Paul Revere sued for a favor from 
the hands of Congress and was passed by. 

In August, 1775, Paul Revere engraved the seal 
used by the colony — the same man with the sword 
and the Magna Charta in his hands — which they 
used until Massachusetts became a state in 1780, 
when Revere made the seal they use to-day, which 
was accepted as " the Arms of the Commonwealth 
of Massachusetts." 

Indeed this master mechanic was never idle. 
Even during those hard days he plied his trade as 
gold- and silversmith, for the future was uncertain 
and this provident patriot did not wish to feel that 

151 



PAUL REVERE 

should any accident happen to him, his family would 
have to struggle for existence. Many have hinted 
that he feathered his own nest, but this was far from 
the truth; he gave honest work for poor pay, and 
service for his country and his state came before 
all else. His reward came later when a poet sang 
his praises in immortal verse and made him a hero. 



VIII 
GUNPOWDER 



VIII 

GUNPOWDER 

PAUL REVERE appears to the "mind's 
eye " of most of us as Longfellow painted 
him — astride a galloping horse and rush- 
ing through the night. With this portrait before us 
we are apt to sympathize too much with the patriot's 
disappointment over not receiving a commission in 
the Continental army and his chagrin in later years 
that even farmers of lowly origin had won for 
themselves great distinction and high rank as sol- 
diers, while at the close of the Revolution he found 
himself merely a Colonel of the State Militia and 
even for that title he had to fight public opinion to 
prove his honor and bravery. 

He failed to recognize a fact which we must not 
overlook in the study of his life, Paul Revere had 
a healthy, good opinion of himself; he knew he was 
efficient in many directions and took an almost child- 
like pride in his many accomplishments, but he never 

155 



PAUL REVERE 

realized that this very efficiency was the greatest 
drawback to his mihtary advancement. The wise 
and far-seeing patriot leaders recognized, if he did 
not that he was too useful, too valuable a man to 
risk upon a battlefield. There were too many things 
he could do in times of need. He had proved this in 
varied ways by always coming forward in an emer- 
gency, and after he had successfully supplied the 
colonists with paper money another and still greater 
need sprang up to confront the struggling nation — 
the need of gunpowder. 

Some of his most important and least mentioned 
rides had been taken to scour the country for it, and 
no one knew better than Revere himself the fearful 
lack of this most necessary commodity. Without 
money to supply their simple wants, the soldiers 
would not fight ; without ammunition they could 
not fight ; so while our patriotic engraver was work- 
ing day and night to supply the bank notes, his ac- 
tive mind was planning ahead on the gunpowder 
problem. 

The money was ready for the soldiers before the 
Battle of Bunker Hill — but alas for the gun- 
powder! All the personal bravery in the world 

156 



GUNPOWDER 

could not still the rattle of British musketry and the 
booming of their guns. Colonel Prescott tried to 
save the already scarce powder for vital moments 
when the redcoats came within easy range but even 
his carefully hoarded supply gave out at last and 
the day was lost. Had this battle ended with vic- 
tory for the Americans the history of the Revolu- 
tion could have been written in a few pages, for an- 
other defeat would have disheartened the British. 
As it was, learning where lay the weakness of the 
enemy, they resolved to make the most of it and to 
secure from every part of the country all the remain- 
ing gunpowder and to order from England quan- 
tities of stores and ammunition. 

In dire extremity Congress turned to the one 
man who was always ready. 

" We want gunpowder," they said to Paul 
Revere, 

" You shall have it/' replied that most obliging 
gentleman, and forthwith set to work. 

He knew enough of chemistry and practical me- 
chanics to help him in his undertaking but what he 
needed most of all was to see a powdermill in oper- 
ation. 

157 



PAUL REVERE 

The only one in active service at that time was 
one near Philadelphia at a little place called Frank- 
fort, and the Provincial Congress lost no time in 
sending him to the city to make observations and 
learn the art himself if he could. He v^as instructed 
to make inquiries and to possess himself as quietly 
as possible of all the knowledge he could obtain, 
without exposing the fact that the colonial powder 
was running low. He was to obtain an exact plan 
of the best constructed powdermill and find out just 
how much powder could be made per day, and at 
what expense, also what would be the charge of hir- 
ing some skilled man to help in the manufacture. 
He also carried letters to the Massachusetts mem- 
bers of the Continental Congress begging that they 
would lend Mr. Revere what assistance they could 
in his investigations. 

Armed with this authority, Paul Revere set out 
for Philadelphia, as usual on horseback, loaded be- 
sides with official documents from the Provincial 
Congress to be delivered to the various gentlemen 
representing Massachusetts in the Continental As- 
sembly. Indeed, could his stout saddlebags have 
been examined there would have been found an 

158 



GUNPOWDER 

amazing medley of correspondence, both public and 
private, for he was still acting as the express for the 
various committees and many an eager lady had her 
husband's thick budget of a letter signed and sealed 
and tied in a packet, " if Mr. Revere had room to 
carry it and perhaps he would tarry long enough on 
his mission to bear back the answer." And some- 
times some shy maid would slip in a love letter or 
some gay coquette would beg that if he saw a bright 
bit of ribbon in the shops he would bring it back 
to her, and there were orders for herbs and lotions 
and what not, and doubtless a long memorandum 
list from his own thrifty wife for it may well be 
imagined that such a houseful of young Reveres 
was continually out at toes or elbows. There was 
always a crowd of eager and anxious people around 
him as he set forth, and prayers were sent after 
him, for there was no telling what dangers and pit- 
falls lurked in waiting for him on the highroad or 
through the forests. But Paul Revere bore a 
charmed life. Nowhere has there been recorded 
any adventure that menaced his safety except in the 
single instance of his capture by the British during 
the Battle of Lexington. Doubtless he took pre- 

159 



PAUL REVERE 

cautions for he was too well known and altogether 
too dangerous an enemy to expect mercy if made a 
prisoner; probably his heaviest traveling was done 
at night, for in the friendly darkness a fleet, sure- 
footed horse and a rider who knew the country 
could cover many miles. 

Arriving in Philadelphia safe and sound, he went 
at once to see John Hancock, the president of the 
Continental Congress, and explained his mission. 
Hancock put the matter in the hands of Robert 
Morris and John Dickinson, both Philadelphians 
and ardent patriots, who wrote a straightforward 
letter to Mr. Oswell Eve, the owner of the powder- 
mills. They explained that Mr. Paul Revere of 
New England was coming to visit the mills in order 
to make observations. The people of New Eng- 
land were anxious to erect a powdermill of their 
own — one which could not possibly affect his man- 
ufacture, and Congress hoped that Mr. Eve would 
show public spirit and give Mr. Revere such infor- 
mation as will enable him to construct the business 
on his return home." But they were doomed to dis- 
appointment. Mr. Oswell Eve was not very oblig- 
ing. Perhaps he was not so public-spirited as Mr. 

160 



GUNPOWDER 

Robert Morris hinted; perhaps, as very often hap- 
pened, Congress was not provided with enough 
funds to pay generously for such favors. At any 
rate, for whatever reason, the owner of the powder- 
mill turned surly; Mr. Revere was not a welcome 
visitor and no assistance whatever was given to 
him. He received no instruction at all; he was 
merely allowed to pass through the premises and 
glean what he could in that fashion. But Mr. 
Oswell Eve mistook his man; the wide-awake 
trained eyes of Paul Revere missed nothing of the 
necessary details, and after lingering in Philadelphia 
a short time longer to study out the subject from 
the mental notes he had taken, he decided to return 
at once to Massachusetts and start building a 
powdermill, for there was really a great clamoring 
for more powder from every quarter. 

Canton, Massachusetts, was the place selected for 
the work on account of an abandoned powder- 
mill there which could be rebuilt. By order 
of the General Court, work was at once begun, in 
February, 1776, and was finished in May. Then 
Revere took charge, and so well had he grasped his 
subject that he was able in a very short time to 

161 



PAUL REVERE 

supply the Continental army with tons of gun- 
powder. 

This was by no means an easy task. It involved 
much study, much patience, and a vast amount of 
personal bravery, for gunpowder was a dangerous 
proposition even with an expert to handle it. In- 
deed, in 1779, this very powdermill was blown to 
atoms, but by that time, fortunately, not only had 
France come to America's help, sending her money 
and supplies, but on the high seas many rich prizes 
of guns and ammunition had fallen into our hands, 
while other colonies, following the example of Mas- 
sachusetts, erected their own powdermills and made 
their own supply. 

There is an interesting drawing of a queer old 
vessel known as " Revere's Powder Proof " which 
was used at the Canton mill for the trial of gun- 
powder and it seems more than a mere coincidence 
that in later years the Revere Copper Company's 
works were established at Canton, Massachusetts. 

While Paul Revere was still busy with the man- 
ufacture of gunpowder, Boston was evacuated by 
the British and, on their way out of the harbor, they 
tried to ruin the cannon at Castle William and other 

162 



GUNPOWDER 

fortifications. Indeed they left them in such a state 
that at Washington's request Revere was sent for 
to repair the damages and he also invented a new 
carriage for them. It was while engaged on this 
work that a regiment of artillery was formed for 
the defense of the town, with headquarters at Bos- 
ton, and on April lo, 1776, he was made a Major 
in the First Regiment of Militia; a month later he 
was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel 
and transferred to the Artillery Regiment; while 
Paul Jr. was made a Lieutenant in the fourth com- 
pany of the same regiment at the age of sixteen. 

A short time after the manufacture of gunpowder 
was established in Massachusetts, Paul Revere was 
called upon for an even more important service — 
to superintend the casting of cannon. Congress 
must have had unusual confidence in his skill and 
accuracy, to judge by the following from the War 
Office, December 28, 1776. 

" Ordered 

" That Mr. Thompson use what stufif he has in 
possession belonging to this state so far as is nec- 
essary for casting the brass cannon under the direc- 
tion of Col, Revere." 

163 



PAUL REVERE 

By this time the turn of fortune's wheel had 
brought the Reveres with many other refugee 
families back to Boston, which ever after remained 
in the hands of the patriots. The citizens were 
arming for state protection and Paul Revere's life 
was one busy round of active service from morning 
till night. We may be sure, too, that the shop was 
not neglected, for no man had a stronger sense of 
what he owed his family and although constantly 
in demand by Congress for this thing or that, and 
though his military duties kept him bound most of 
the time, he yet managed to make himself a power 
in his household and among his friends and his 
brother mechanics. Of all of the Boston patriots 
he was the one who had his finger on the pulse of 
the people. James Otis might charm by his oratory, 
the Adamses might plan and build, John Hancock 
might lure with his wealth and position, but it was 
Paul Revere who moved the masses, who showed 
them by example what an able-bodied mechanic 
could do for his country, and they listened to him 
in time of stress and trouble as they listened to no 
other for he was just one of them and " fellow feel- 
ing makes us wondrous kind." 

164 



GUNPOWDER 

So Paul Revere was asked, or rather he was 
ordered, to superintend the making of the cannon. 
Even to-day, with all our modern facilities, the cast- 
ing of cannon is a stupendous and thrilling under- 
taking; a shade too much heat, a shade too much 
cold, will undo all the careful and precise calcula- 
tions of science, and as we know, in many instances 
the failure of the " big gun " to make good at its 
trial results often in death and disaster. 

How difficult then must have been Paul Revere's 
task — for here were missing both the steam and 
electricity which in these days are indispensable! 
The only heat obtainable was fire, but it required 
unheard-of vigilance to fan the flames into a 
steady glow and to keep the heat up to the even 
temperature required. Everything was crude — 
made to suit the needs of the moment — and the 
materials used in the casting would be brushed aside 
by the modern gunmaker who uses only carefully 
tempered steel and iron while Congress in its plight 
used whatever it could get in those Revolutionary 
times. 

Of course the guns were only made for four- 
pound shot and many of them were of brass, of 

165 



PAUL REVERE 

which material there was a far greater quantity for 
patriotic dames threw their treasures into the melt- 
ing pot when the supply ran low. 

The testing of these guns required great caution 
and skill, but there is no record of Paul Revere hav- 
ing failed in his experiments. Neither was there 
any unusual mead of praise for this man who could 
do so many things so wonderfully well. The truth 
was that the people of Massachusetts were so ac- 
customed to seeing this master workman come for- 
ward at every emergency that the offer of his valu- 
able services was accepted quite as a matter of 
course. 

Indeed in the case of Paul Revere we can plainly 
see that " A man is never a prophet in his own coun- 
try " and in his own century. We recognize him 
now as a perfect genius of handicraft and cannot 
help picturing to ourselves what he would have done 
if he had found himself on earth in this century of 
modern invention — how his boy's soul would have 
rejoiced in the countless opportunities for exercis- 
ing his quick wit and his skillful fingers! What a 
help he would have been as ** right-hand man " to 
Thomas A. Edison, for instance. It is doubtful 

i66 



GUNPOWDER 

if even he himself fully realized his remarkable gifts. 
Not that he was overmodest but he looked upon 
such practical service as he rendered his country as 
part of his trade, and history is only too anxious 
to record that he was not moderate in his charges. 

He gave a great deal but he expected fair wages 
in return, and there was something in the stalwart 
presence of this man with his square jaw and de- 
termined chin that compelled the payment of what 
was due him, both in money and appreciation. 

So far, Paul Revere had seen little or no active 
service in this war for liberty. He had made both 
guns and gunpowder but except in trial tests he had 
had no occasion to use them. The time had now 
arrived when as Lieutenant Colonel of an artillery 
regiment he was ordered to the north woods on an 
important mission, and for a time thereafter heavy 
shadows hung about this expedition — shadows not 
of his own making, but none the less heavy for all 
that. 



IX 

THE PENOBSCOT EXPEDITION 



CHAPTER IX 
THE PENOBSCOT EXPEDITION 

FROM 1777 until 1779 we hear seldom of the 
State regiment and then, probably because 
there was so little activity at Castle William 
where they were quartered, a great many of the 
soldiers deserted and were taken on board the 
frigates Providence and Boston, far preferring ac- 
tive service to idleness at the fort. No doubt their 
commander, Paul Revere, quite agreed with them, 
but he was bound in conscience to report them. 
Near the end of March he wrote to the Council giv- 
ing the names of the deserters and requesting 
" Their Honors " to forbid the marine ofificers to 
take their recruits from them. 

The Council at once ordered the commanders of 
these vessels to restore the men to " Lieut. Col. Paul 
Revere, Commanding officer of sd. Regiment" and 
ordered Colonel Revere not to allow either of these 
vessels to pass the Castle until the men were de- 

171 



PAUL REVERE 

livered ; at the same time to put the island in a state 
of defense and to call for whatever ammunition and 
provisions he needed; for it might be necessary to 
use force to recover his men. It is interesting to 
note that in arranging for the defense of Castle 
Island Paul Revere writes to the Council : 

" I have got a part of the Somerset's guns on the 
platform and shall get the remainder as soon as pos- 
sible." 

The Somerset^ it may be remembered, was the 
British man-of-war guarding the Charles River on 
that eventful " i8th of April in Seventy- five " when 
Paul Revere slipped over to Charlestown under the 
very noses of those guns which he was now mount- 
ing with so much pride on the ramparts of Castle 
William. The ship had taken active part with the 
British fleet in the Battle of Bunker Hill, but in 
November, 1778, she was wrecked in a gale near 
Race Point, Cape Cod. Sixty or seventy of the 
crew were drowned and the rest surrendered them- 
selves as prisoners of war to the United States ; and 
so it happened that the twenty-one 32-pound guns 
belonging to the ship were mounted at Castle Wil- 
liam. 

172 



THE PENOBSCOT EXPEDITION 

Revere, as ordered, kept a sharp lookout for the 
two frigates on which the deserters had taken 
refuge. On April 9, 1779, he wrote from Castle 
Island : 

" Sir : — I have received out of the Providence 
Frigate fifteen men; they sent ten of them on shore, 
but I was obliged to fire at, and bring her too be- 
fore I could get the other five." 

So active was he in stopping all ships that passed 
the fort, that very soon he was able to recover all 
his deserters. He could not blame these poor men 
very much, for the home regiment was poorly fed 
and poorly clothed and this no doubt added to their 
discontent; they had grown restless from inactivity, 
envying the soldiers at the front the privilege of 
fighting and, if need be, dying for their country. 
But so stern were Paul Revere's ideas of military 
duty that desertion and insubordination were inex- 
cusable — even though these men were only court- 
ing danger and not running away from it. 

Consequently, when the disastrous campaign 
called the Penobscot Expedition drew down cen- 
sure on both officers and men, we may be quite sure 

173 



PAUL REVERE 

that the " somebody who blundered " was not our 
sturdy patriot who always drew such a heavy 
boundary line between right and wrong. 

The British had taken possession of one of the 
little peninsulas on the coast of Maine, called in 
Revolutionary times Maja-Bagaduce, now better 
known as Castine, a little shipping port on the east 
side of Penobscot Bay. To the state of Massachu- 
setts was given the task of storming and taking this 
stronghold, and accordingly, on June 26, 1779, the 
Council Chamber of Boston issued orders to Col. 
Revere to hold himself and a hundred matrosses 
[assistant gunners] and other officers in readiness 
to embark at an hour's notice " for the defense of 
this State and to attack the Enemy at Penobscot 
under the command of General Lovell." 

The rather obscure wording of this order leaves 
one in doubt as to whether General Lovell was on 
the side of the besiegers or the besieged. There 
was no doubt, however, in Paul Revere's mind, for 
Brig. General Solomon Lovell was well known both 
as patriot and soldier. Brig. General Peleg Wads- 
worth was second in authority. The fleet which 
was to accompany the force was commanded by 

174 



THE PENOBSCOT EXPEDITION 

Commodore Dudley Saltonstall and Lieutenant Col- 
onel Revere commanded the train of artillery. 

From the time the army reached the Maine 
woods, Paul Revere, knowing the temper of his own 
men and seeing how little sympathy there was be- 
tween the officers and their commands, strongly op- 
posed storming the enemy ; indeed this was the gen- 
eral opinion of the commanding officers who were 
being constantly summoned to councils of war 
where plans were freely discussed ; but nothing came 
of them. At last, having wasted much time in use- 
less bickering, for there was much rivalry and fric- 
tion among the officers themselves, the siege was 
decided upon. It commenced as soon as they ar- 
rived before Bagaduce, July 25, 1779, and lasted 
until August 13, ending in the " utter and ignomin- 
ious defeat of the besiegers." The British simply 
sat in their stronghold and laughed at the feeble ef- 
forts of their foes, and watched them turn and scat- 
ter in great confusion and consternation. Who was 
responsible for this catastrophe none could tell. 
The general opinion of the commanding officers was 
that there were neither enough men nor stores; 
added to which the troops were undisciplined and 

175 



PAUL REVERE 

insubordinate. The wood where the greater part of 
the force was encamped was so thick that at the 
slightest alarm at least a fourth of the army could 
skulk out of sight and danger. From the first, 
disaster seemed inevitable. Commodore Salton- 
stall, esteemed a brave and judicious commander, 
showed an unwillingness to fight, probably due to 
the fact that six of his captains reported that their 
men were on the verge of deserting; however that 
may be, the blame for the failure of this important 
expedition was laid by his contemporaries at his door 
for it seemed almost unbelievable that our seventeen 
armed ships should have been routed by four ships 
of the enemy. 

It appears that the ordnance brig which carried 
Col. Revere's troops with his artillery and ammuni- 
tion was entirely deserted by the other ships which 
simply turned tail and fled. Paul Revere himself, 
who at General Lovell's side had gone ashore at 
Fort Pownal to see about the placing of some can- 
non, was separated from his command. This brig, 
which in case of a land attack was the sole depend- 
ence of the army, made her way up the river alone 
as well as she could, but was finally boarded and 

176 



THE PENOBSCOT EXPEDITION 

burned with all her contents. Many of the trans- 
ports deserted by the men-of-war which should have 
shielded them got aground pursued by the British 
ships, and the soldiers were obliged to take to the 
shore and set fire to their vessels. It was a terrible 
day of shame and defeat and caused great excite- 
ment in the state of Massachusetts. The Court of 
Inquiry which gave the case a careful hearing re- 
ported that " want of proper spirit and energy on 
the part of the commodore " was the cause of the 
failure, while General Lovell was exonerated from 
all blame, being esteemed always " a brave, patriotic 
and skillful general." Paul Revere, upon his return 
from this unlucky venture, was ordered to resume 
his command at Castle William, but shortly after, 
on the complaint of Thomas Jenness Carnes, Cap- 
tain of Marines " on Board the Ship-of-War Gen- 
eral Putnam against Lieu*. Colonel Paul Revere 
for disobedience of orders during said expedition 
[to Penobscot] for unsoldierlike behavior tending 
to cowardice and disobedience of his Superior of- 
ficer," he was directed " to resign the Command of 
Castle Island and other Fortresses in the harbor of 
Boston to Captain Perez Gushing and . . . repair 

177 



PAUL REVERE 

to his dwelling house in Boston and there continue 
until the matter complained of can be duly enquired 
into or he be discharged by order of the General 
Court or the Council." This was on September 9, 
1779. Three days later the Council declared it un- 
necessary to arrest Col. Revere but asked him to 
hold himself in readiness to appear before the Coun- 
cil whenever summoned. 

In the meantime the angry patriot wrote a vigor- 
ous denial of all of Captain Carnes' accusations. 
Indeed it seemed almost preposterous, when we 
think of what this brave man had dared and ven- 
tured for liberty, that he should fly at the first 
danger signal. With characteristic energy he be- 
gan to gather evidence to vindicate his honor, and 
his chief witness was his own carefully kept diary 
which disproved all of the charges against him. 

It leaked out that Revere had a personal enemy 
in camp, a certain Captain Todd who unfortunately 
had joined the expedition and who was acting as 
Brigade Major to General Lovell. The man was 
very much opposed to both the artillery corps and 
its commander and there is little doubt that he did 
all in his power to injure them. As it was, Revere 

178 



THE PENOBSCOT EXPEDITION 

in his diary not only records every incident of the 
siege but takes pains to show that as he was not 
within reach of his superior officers he therefore 
could not receive orders from them; he adds in his 
testimony before the court-martial upon which he 
had insisted: 

" That I did go up the River has been fully 
proved. That I came home without his [General 
Lovell's] orders is true: where could I have found 
either the General or Brigadier, if it had been nec- 
essary to have orders: the first went one hundred 
miles up Penobscot River and the other went down, 
and I crossed the woods to Kennebeck River, My 
instructions from the Hon. Council to which I re- 
ferred above directs that I shall * obey General 
Lovell or other of no Superior officers during con- 
tinuance of the Expedition.' Surely no man will 
say that the Expedition was not discontinued, when 
all the shipping was either taken or burned and the 
artillery and Ordnance Stores all destroyed. I then 
looked upon it that I was to do what I thought 
right. Accordingly I ordered them (my men) to 
Boston by the shortest route, and that Capt. Gushing 
should march them, and give certificates for their 

179 



PAUL REVERE 

subsistence on the road. Why such instructions 
were given me some of your Honors are the best 
Judges. 

" As I did not take any minutes on the examina- 
tion I have written my defense as my memory 
served me. If I have made any material mistakes 
I hope your Honors will attribute it to my memory. 
I was in hopes to have delivered it before the last 
adjournment of the Committee; as I had the sub- 
stance of it written; but there was not time." 

The fact that it was necessary for Paul Revere 
to defend himself against public opinion was some- 
thing of which the state of Massachusetts had every 
reason to be ashamed. That it did feel ashamed 
was proved by the fact that the charges against him 
in the court-martial which he demanded were nar- 
rowed down to two ; the first " for his refusing to 
deliver a certain boat to the order of General Wads- 
worth when upon the retreat up Penobscot River 
from Major Bagaduce," the second " for his leav- 
ing Penobscot River without orders from his Com- 
manding Officer." 

On both of these charges he was honorably ac- 
quitted but justice was slow in its course. The 

1 80 



THE PENOBSCOT EXPEDITION 

Penobscot Expedition suffered defeat in August 13, 
1779, and the court-martial did not take place until 
February 19, 1782, two years and a half later, dur- 
ing which time the Americans had won their fight 
for liberty. But Paul Revere, smarting under the 
sting of undeserved censure performed no more 
miHtary services. Ever afterward the subject was 
a sore one with him, not alone because of the in- 
justice done him on this special occasion, but be- 
cause he had been denied the privilege of fighting 
for his country in the way he wished. 

It was little satisfaction to him to know that many 
of the noted leaders carried similar chips on their 
shoulders. 

Patrick Henry, for all his military fire, was made 
Governor of Virginia to keep him out of harm's 
way. Thomas Jefferson was made to understand 
that for him " the pen was mightier than the sword. "^ 
Samuel Adams was too old for service. John 
Adams was afflicted with poor eyes. John Han- 
cock, bitterly chagrined over not being appointed 
commander in chief of the American forces, was 
pacified by high places in the Continental Congress 
and the state of Massachusetts. Of the pioneer 

181 



PAUL REVERE 

patriots only Joseph Warren and James Otis saw 
anything like active service. Strangely enough, 
both fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Warren 
wa.s cut down in the flower of his manhood, a bril- 
liant light suddenly put out, while poor James Otis, 
his wonderful mind a shattered wreck, fought in 
the thick of the battle and escaped without a scratch. 
Thus chance plays strange tricks in the course of 
events. In the case of Paul Revere, here was prob- 
ably the best soldier of them all gone to waste. He 
had everything to recommend him — a clear brain, 
a quick eye, extraordinary powers of endurance, 
and above all courage and loyalty, a very rock of 
trustworthiness. 

While still fighting for his public vindication Paul 
Revere was not behindhand in demanding back pay 
for himself and the other officers and men of the 
artillery corps who had given their time and their 
services with no reward. After some delay notes 
were made out for each man's wages and the gov- 
ernment turned them into money. 

But the disappointed soldier was soon replaced by 
the enterprising mechanic. Paul Revere once more 
resumed his trade of goldsmith and engraver, while 

182 



THE PENOBSCOT EXPEDITION 

the storms of the Revolution were still raging about 
him. 

He took pains at this time to communicate with 
that branch of his family which had remained in 
France and the branch that had settled in Guernsey, 
both retaining the old French surname Rivoire, for 
he took great pride in his ancestry which was of 
good old stock. To his cousin Mathias de Rivoire 
in France he wrote more freely because of the 
French alliance but his other cousin, John Rivoire, 
who lived in Guernsey, gave his allegiance to Eng- 
land and wrote a very frank opinion of the colonies' 
break with the mother country, deploring the fact 
that they had called France to their assistance and 
pointing out how wrong America was to turn against 
the King. The war stopped the correspondence 
from 1775 until 1782, when he again took up the 
subject of America's independence upon which they 
had argued seven years before. In his far-away 
island home he could not imagine what the war 
really was and his opinion of the French was cer- 
tainly far from complimentary. " I heartily wish," 
he writes, " the Americans could open their eyes be- 
fore it is too late to repent the dangerous alliance 

183 



PAUL REVERE 

they have made with the French. They seem at 
first Hke turtle doves, poHte and humble till they 
get their ends; but after they are masters there is 
none in the world such for tyranny and oppression. 
You may well compare them to fire (viz.) 'Good 
Servants, but very bad Masters.' " Further on he 
says : 

" I will suppose for one moment there is faults 
on both sides, I mean between England and America, 
which is a similar case between Mother and Daugh- 
ter, how easy in my opinion the whole could be com- 
promised and adjusted, England having repealed 
their acts of Parliament concerning America, and 
leaving it as it was in the year 1763." 

How Paul Revere must have laughed over this 
peaceful solution of the seven years of strenuous 
fighting! But he replied in a spirited and patriotic 
way, leaving his cousin in no doubt as to whom he 
considered right and wrong. 

" What has not England done to subjugate us? " 
he says in one part of his letter. " They have hired 
foreign troops to massacre us; they have set the 
Indians on our helpless women and children to 
butcher them ; they have encouraged the Negro serv- 

184 



THE PENOBSCOT EXPEDITION 

ants to assassinate their masters — they have burned 
our defenceless towns and cities. They have mur- 
dered our old men in cool blood and have hanged 
our young men wantonly; and what is still worse 
if possible, they have confined the men whom they 
have taken prisoners in loathsome ships and goals 
till they have died by inches. . . . You may depend 
that the Americans will never submit to be under the 
Brittons again," 

All of which goes to show that though Paul 
Revere was proud of his lineage, taking pains to 
keep in touch with his kindred, preserving his family 
crest and the many traditions that clustered round 
the De Rivoires of song and story, he was before 
everything else an American patriot who loved his 
country as he loved his life and always served her 
with honor and distinction. 



X 

JACK OF ALL TRADES 



X 

" JACK OF ALL TRADES " 

THE old saw reads "Jack of all trades and 
Master of none " but in the case of Paul 
Revere it was quite a different story. He 
did well such a number of things that one might 
safely assert he was master of all he attempted. 

We have touched but lightly upon what, after all, 
was the backbone of his character, his trade, the 
work in life which had descended to him from his 
father and which he in his turn handed down to his 
own son. In the unsettled state of the country 
shortly before and during the Revolution this work 
was often laid aside. Indeed, as we know, the en- 
graving which his calling as a silver- and goldsmith 
made necessary in order to beautify the pieces 
fashioned by his skilled hands was frequently em- 
ployed in such work as our present-day cartoonists 
indulge in, caricaturing current events, which then 
as now, made more impression upon the public than 
a dozen speeches or sermons. 

189 



PAUL REVERE 

Besides these caricatures he engraved many valu- 
able pictures of Boston and its surroundings, which 
give bird's-eye views of the town as it really was 
in those early days. Three of these views were 
made at the time when England had decided to 
quarter troops in Boston against the will of the peo- 
ple. The first one is especially interesting and 
shows a part of Boston beginning with the Old 
Brick Church and stretching out as far as North 
Battery, the shipping portion of the town. The 
bay is dotted over with craft of every kind, and 
around one particular wharf which extends far out 
into the water, and which with reason was called 
the Long Wharf, the many ships are clustered wait- 
ing to deposit their cargoes of men and ammunition. 
Paul Revere who delighted in detail has even drawn 
some tiny figures of the soldiers marching along the 
wooden pier to the town. Many of these prints he 
colored by hand, the red coats of the soldiers stand- 
ing out from the background of soft browns and 
greens. 

The title of this picture is on a scroll across the 
top of the engraving which measures ten by fifteen 
inches. It reads : " A View of Part of the Town 

190 



« JACK OF ALL TRADES " 

of Boston in New England, and British Ships of 
War landing their Troops! 1768." 

The Boston Gazette and County Journal of Mon- 
day, April 16, 1770, contains the following adver- 
tisement : 

" Just Published and to be sold by Paul Revere 
opposite Dr. Clark's at the North End by the Print- 
ers hereof " — [Then follows a description of the 
picture.] 

These prints are accurate historic productions and 
portray exactly the point the artist wished to illus- 
trate. Engraving in those days was confined to 
line drawing with little background or shading, but 
Paul Revere's vivid imagination lent color and spirit 
to his work, and our engraver besides was some- 
thing of a wit — else he never could have drawn 
such clever caricatures. Indeed, so distinct was 
his style that those familiar with his work can 
easily pick out his engravings in any historical 
collection. 

The second view was engraved for the North 
American Almanack published by Edes and Gill, 
and was a much smaller plate, being three by five 
and a quarter inches. Eleven steeples of churches, 

191 



PAUL REVERE 

besides Faneuil Hall and the Old State House ap- 
pear in this print, and Paul Revere must have had 
the eyes of a hawk and the most delicate of tools 
to get in everything the picture contains. It is 
called : " Prospective View of the Town of Boston, 
the Capital of New England; and the Landing of 
troops in the year 1768, in Consequence of Letters 
from Gov. Bernard to the Commissioners of the 
British Ministry." 

The third plate was engraved for the first number 
of the Royal American Magazine, January, 1774, 
and Paul Revere called it " A View of the Town of 
Boston with several Ships of War in the Harbor." 
The magazine was the last one established before 
the Revolution. It was first published by one Isaiah 
Thomas, and ran in current numbers for six months, 
until July, 1774, when it was discontinued for a 
time; then Joseph Greenleaf became the owner 
and revived it for a few months until the April 
following, " when the war put a period to the 
magazine." 

Mr. E. H. Goss, in his biography of the patriot, 
says : " It is interesting to compare a number of 
this magazine with its thin paper, small pages, old 

192 



To/. I 



JV91IL. 




9AJ2/%^4ar/^WX^7?/^^>^^ . 



*2i3--"2/»^ 



" JACK OF ALL TRADES " 

fashioned type, rough engravings and general make- 
up with one of the issues of Harper's New Monthly, 
the Century or the Magazine of American History." 
Paul Revere contributed many engravings, among 
which were several portraits of well-known people. 
Most of them were copies of Copley's paintings; 
two of especial prominence being busts of Hancock 
and Samuel Adams. These portraits were em- 
bellished with allegorical figures representing the 
state of a country on the verge of war — Paul 
Revere's own work — and his name, " P. Revere 
Scpr.," is signed to everything. His active brain 
was as quick as his skillful hands, so the pictures 
were never lacking in originality. Fortunately for 
us, there was little or no competition in this line of 
work. The " patriot engraver," as he has often 
been called, had the field to himself so far as the 
Royal American Magazine was concerned, and his 
contributions in that short time were numerous. 
One special print was called " The Able Doctor, or 
America swallowing the Bitter Draught," showing 
America in the hands of the British Ministers prone 
on the ground while they are forcing the distasteful 
tea down her throat. A similar idea is " America 

193 



PAUL REVERE 

in Distress," only the physicians are divided in their 
opinions in this case, America is a helpless female 
figure lying back in a chair; on one side of her are 
the British physicians giving all sorts of absurd 
opinions; on the other side are the American phy- 
sicians trying to protect her from her would-be mur- 
derers. This engraving was the very last num- 
ber of the Royal American Magazine, and was 
printed in March, 1775, at a time when the 
excitement was rising to fever heat and the 
engraver had laid away his tools for more active 
service. 

Indeed, were there time and opportunity, a com- 
plete pictorial history of these stirring times might 
be made from the collected engravings of Paul 
Revere. 

The cleverist engraving he ever did was some of 
his very earliest work, " The New England Psalm- 
Singer," being a collection of " Psalm Tunes, 
Anthems and Canons." 

"Set in Score by Josiah Flagg 

Engraved by Paul Revere." 

This quaint little volume, the property of Alfred 
194 



« JACK OF ALL TRADES " 

S. Manson, Esq., of Boston, is the only one known 
to be in existence. Doubtless there are others 
tucked out of sight in some old-fashioned New Eng- 
land book-cases. The ninety-six pages of music 
were engraved by Revere on copper-plates and its 
introductory pages contain : " An Essay on the 
Nature and Properties of Sound, Rules of 
Musick." 

An Ode on Music, and a New England Hymn by 
the Rev. Dr. Byles and " An Hymn composed by 
the Rev. Mr. Whitfield with design to be sung at 
his own funeral " followed by an " Advertisement " 
apologizing for the delay in publication in order that 
they might be printed on American paper. As this 
was published in 1765 after England had issued 
the Stamp Act, we can see how early American in- 
dependence was beginning to assert itself. The 
publishers further beg that " the good Ladies, Heads 
of Families, into whose Hands they [the hymn 
books] may fall will zealously endeavor to furnish 
the Paper Mills with all the Fragments of Linnen 
they can possibly afford: Paper being the Vehicle 
of Literature, and Literature the Spring and Se- 
curity of human Happiness." 

195 



PAUL REVERE 

The frontispiece of this book is really a wonder- 
ful bit of engraving. It is called " The Singing 
School " and represents a room containing a round 
table at which are seated seven men with powdered 
wigs — evidently taking a lesson. This picture is 
surrounded with a staff of music containing a verse 
of a hymn. Drawn with the finest of tools, it is per- 
fect in detail. And we must remember that the art 
of engraving which Paul Revere brought to such 
perfection was only mastered because he wished 
to beautify the articles of gold and silver which 
he made in his workshop, many of which have 
been handed down as heirlooms and bear comparison 
with the modern work of these days. He and his 
father before him made tankards, cups, spoons, 
sugar baskets, cream ewers, pitchers, bowls, and 
dishes of every size and shape, and many old Boston 
families treasure with pride some bit of his v/ork. 
The articles he fashioned were always graceful in 
shape and carefully finished, and we see many re- 
productions of the simple colonial style in the silver 
of to-day. 

Paul Revere also made medals and seals of every 
kind and description. Indeed the list of them would 

196 



'« JACK OF ALL TRADES " 

be too long to enter here but one can well under- 
stand how this thrifty master craftsman in time be- 
came a man of means. We can readily picture him 
as he describes himself at the close of the Revolu- 
tion in a letter to Mathias Rivoire of France. He 
speaks of his father who " had left no estate but a 
good name and seven children, three sons and four 
daughters. I was the eldest son, I learned the trade 
of him and have carried on the business ever since ; 
until the year 1775 when the American Revc'ivLion 
began, from that time till May, 1780, I have been in 
the Government service as Lieut. Col. of an Artillery 
regiment — The time for which that was raised, 
then expired and I thought it best to go to my busi- 
ness again, which I now carry on and under which 
I trade some to Holland. I did intend to have gone 
wholly in to trade, but the principal part of my in- 
terest I lent to Government, which I have not been 
able to draw out, so must content myself till I can 
do better. I am in middling circumstances, and 
very well off for a tradesman. I am forty-seven 
years old, I have a wife and eight children alive; 
my eldest daughter is married; my eldest son is 
learning my trade since we left the Army, and is 

197 



PAUL REVERE 

now in business for himself. I have one brother 
and two sisters ahve. 

" You desire me to send you a seal with the arms 
of our Family; enclosed is one, which I pray you to 
accept of; it is one of my own engraving (for that 
is part of my trade) which I hope will be acceptable 
to you." 

The engraving referred to is a reproduction of the 
ancestral seal, representing a rampant lion, with a 
most benevolent smile, holding a shield, at the top 
of which is an eagle ready to soar ; at the bottom is 
a scroll on which are the words, Pugna pro Patria 
(I fight for my country). 

" Before this reaches you," he continues, " you 
will have heard of the victory gained over the Brit- 
ish Army by the Allied Armies, commanded by the 
brave General Washington, (A small engraving of 
him, I send enclosed, it is said to be a good likeness 
and it is my engraving) Which I hope will produce 
peace." 

This letter is especially interesting as it gives us 
a plain, everyday common-sense view of our hero 
who in his own estimation was no hero at all — 
only a plain everyday common-sense man with a 

198 



" JACK OF ALL TRADES " 

very excellent opinion of his own achievements, and 
very generous withal, for he often sent gifts to his 
cousins. The engraving of Washington could 
never have reached its destination for no search has 
ever brought it to light. 

To John Rivoire Paul Revere sent a set of but- 
tons, probably of silver or brass, of his own work- 
manship, for though the fashions were changing to 
more sober garments for the men, the knee breeches 
were still used with the big continental coat of con- 
trasting shade " buttoned down before " like old 
Father Grimes in the poem. 

In a letter to this same cousin in 1786, he men- 
tions the death of one of his children: 

" Since my last letter to you I have lost one of 
the finest Boys that was ever born; two years and 
three months old, named John, whom I named for 
you." 

Three of his children by his second wife bore the 
name of John. The first was born June 13, 1776, 
and lived just two weeks. The second was the one 
mentioned in this letter, born Christmas Day, 1783. 
Then he writes in this same letter: 

" I now begin to think I shall have no more chil- 
199 



PAUL REVERE 

dren. I have had fifteen children and six Grand 
children." Here he made one grave error for the 
birth records show that another John was born on 
March 17, 1787, two years later, adding a sixteenth 
child to his already " numerous family " — eight by 
each marriage. 

Thus at fifty-one, Paul Revere, carrying his robust 
years lightly upon his shoulders, found himself in 
the position of a patriarch at the head of his family. 

But there was nothing patriarchal in the way he 
dashed into business enterprises of all kinds. In 
1783 he opened a hardware store " directly opposite 
where Liberty Tree stood," probably the first of 
the kind ever kept in Boston. We would call it to- 
day a department store, for he also kept " hosiery, 
coatings and other merchandise." Being efficient 
in whatever he undertook there is no doubt that Paul 
Revere made a most excellent shopkeeper. His day- 
books had careful entries and all the best people of 
Boston frequented his store. He kept his stock 
full of all kinds of hardware and if the thrifty Bos- 
tonians wanted anything in or out of the ordinary 
they called at Paul Revere's; one bill to Samuel 
Adams is found on a page of his daybook. 

200 



" JACK OF ALL TRADES " 

We can imagine the portly gentleman in the snuff 
colored suit filling the shop with his substantial pres- 
ence and bidding " my good Mr. Revere to charge 
to my account." Here are the items: 

1785 

Dec. 31 To 1-2 Doz Sley Bells £ 7. 6 

1786 

May 6 To i Door Lock 5. 

To 4 Pair hinges 5. 4 

To 2 thumb catches i. 4 

To I brandy cock i. 9 

Dec. 13 To 3 Truck Bells 6. 

29 To 3 Sley Bells 5. 

1787 

Jan. 10 To I Truck Bell 2. 

f1.13.11 
Cr. 
Dec. 21 By his account settled Nov. 28th, 1787. .£1.13.11 



Money was always a very scarce article in the 
Adams family but Paul Revere, as we see, was an 
easy creditor, for it was two years before the great 
man was ready to pay his bill. 

In the shop were displayed " gold necklaces, 
lockets, rings, bracelets, beads, buttons, medals and 
cases for pictures," with everything in silver that 

201 



PAUL REVERE 

could be thought of, and in the daybooks are en- 
tered many charges for engraving of all kinds. 
There was as yet no one in Boston to take that line 
of trade away from him. He often said that he 
depended chiefly upon his goldsmith business for 
the support of his family. 

Sometimes he received queer orders from cus- 
tomers. One Andrew Oliver wished him to make 
a sugar dish out of an ostrich egg, and the Estate 
of Doc. John Clark, Esq., ordered " eleven Death's 
head gold Rings." Often, too, when trade was 
tied up, he was pressed for money. At such times 
his fertile brain was planning new enterprises, and 
as early as 1788 we find him buying up quantities 
of pig iron for melting-down purposes; for years 
of experience in fashioning articles of gold and 
silver convinced him that other metals could be put 
to more practical uses if he could make himself 
master of this new industry by building a furnace. 
Accordingly, for an idea always suggested a pos- 
sibility to Paul Revere, in November, 1788, he wrote 
to Messrs. Brown & Benson of Providence : 



202 



" JACK OF ALL TRADES " 

" Gentlemen : 

"We have got our furnass agoing and find that 
it answers our expectations, & have no doubt that 
the business will do exceedingly well in the Town 
of Boston. Mr. John Brown when in Boston, in- 
formed me your furnace was to go soon [Paul 
Revere's spelling was peculiar, to say the least] I 
should be glad that you would ship as soon as pos- 
sible ten tons of Pigs by the way of Nantucket with- 
out there should be a vessell coming here from Prov- 
idence. 

" We are desirous to have a constant & regular 
supply of Piggs from your furnace & in Order to 
do it we think there cannot be a more effectual way 
than by interesting you or some of your gentlemen 
owners of the Hope furnace in our furnace." 

Here our far-seeing business man outlined his 
ideas of a partnership or corporation for which he 
was willing to sell shares to be paid for in " Piggs," 
meaning pig iron, of course, though to the ignorant 
the combination of " pigs " and furnaces might sug- 
gest a most appetising roast. 

In the following year. Sept, 3, 1789, he wrote 
to the same firm that he was building an air furnace 
for the melting of iron and that he wished to buy 

203 



PAUL REVERE 

from them " a large quantity of Pigs . . . perhaps 
as much as One hundred Tonns pr year." 

This was the beginning of the Revere Foundry 
established at 13 Lynn Street, corner of Foster 
Street, and shortly after, he began the casting of 
cannon and ironware, including the making of 
church bells. 

In 1789 the first Directory of Boston was issued. 
Under the name of Revere is one " Thomas Revere, 
silversmith, Newbury Street " and " John Revere, 
taylor, Ann Street," both younger brothers of Paul 
Revere. In the next Directory, 1796, Paul Revere 
is recorded as " bell and cannon foundrey, Lynn 
Street, house, North Square," while " Revere & Son, 
Goldsmiths," had a shop on Ann Street, and Paul 
Revere, Jr., is given as " goldsmith. Fleet Street." 

The first bell that Paul Revere ever made was cast 
in Boston in 1792 for the New Brick Church on 
Middle Street. The first bell in this church was 
hung in 1743 and after thirty-seven years of service 
it was removed and replaced by the bell of the Old 
North Church, which was larger. This bell had 
been injured in 1792 and was given to Paul Revere 
to recast. Upon it is the following inscription: 

204 



" JACK OF ALL TRADES " 

"The first bell cast in Boston, 1792, by P. 
Revere," 

It seems a strange coincidence that the lanterns 
of the Old North Church were the signal lights on 
the night of the famous ride, and that the famous 
rider should have recast the bell which had once 
hung in that self -same steeple. 

The bell is still in good condition though no longer 
in use. Rev. Edward G. Porter, in his " Rambles in 
Boston," gives a most interesting account of this 
celebrated bell which weighs nine hundred and 
twelve pounds. He says in part: 

" Few bells have such a record as this. It has 
hung in three conspicuous churches, either in its 
original or its enlarged form. It has summoned 
six generations of worshipers to the sanctuary. It 
has tolled for the dead and awakened the living 
from their morning slumbers. It has opened the 
daily market, announced the hour for lunch, called 
the hungry to their dinner and the weary to their 
beds. It has broken the stillness of the night by 
its dread alarm of fire. On momentous occasions 
it has rallied the citizens to meet in defense of 
liberty. It has sounded the tocsin of war and rung 

205 



PAUL REVERE 

merrily on the return of peace. It has assisted in 
the patriotic celebrations of the Fifth of March, the 
Seventeenth of June and the Fourth of July. Truly 
such an active and faithful participant in the affairs 
of Boston during so long a period of our history, 
deserves a place among the famous bells of the 
world." 

According to Paul Revere himself this M'as the 
first of sixty church bells of various sizes which he 
had cast from the time he set up his foundry. 

In 1816, when Revere was eighty-one years old, 
the firm of Revere & Son cast a new bell for the 
tower of King's Chapel, for the old bell which had 
been hung in 1772 cracked while tolling for evening 
service May 8, 181 4. 

When the new bell was raised to its position a 
witty person wrote the following lines: 

The Chapel Church, 
Left in the lurch, 
Must surely fall; 
For church and people 
And bell and steeple 
Are crazy all. 
The church still lives 
The priest survives 
With mind the same. 
" 206 



" JACK OF ALL TRADES " 

Revere refounds 
The bell resounds 
And all is well again. 

This bell is still hanging in the King's Chapel and 
its rich full tones have sent their echoes over the 
land. 

All this work meant money in the pockets of this 
enterprising tradesman. 

But more important commissions still lay in wait 
for Revere & Son. Their foundry had attracted 
attention far and wide and both in the state of 
Massachusetts and in the general government their 
skilled work was in demand. 



XI 

COPPER ROLLING AND THE FRIGATE 
CONSTITUTION 



XI 

COPPER ROLLING AND THE FRIGATE 
CONSTITUTION 



H 



AVING successfully set his furnace 
" agoing," as he himself describes it, 
Paul Revere's keen eyes looked around 
for other worlds to conquer. By this time he had 
studied the many sides of his business so thoroughly 
that he was fast becoming a scientist as well as 
a mechanic. His familiarity with various metals, 
as well as his diligent reading along certain lines, 
had taught him their chemical properties so that 
as the years went on he began to conceive of 
new ways of applying his knowledge for practical 
purposes. Copper was the next metal he pressed 
into service; he was already familiar with its uses, 
having done all his engravings on copperplates. 
He soon discovered that under certain heating proc- 
esses copper, hardest of metals, could be rendered 
malleable, that is, easy to mold or hammer. 

211 



PAUL REVERE 

In a letter to Harrison Gray Otis, a member of 
Congress, he alluded to the fact that coppersmiths 
agreed that no one in America had been able to 
handle copper in this way. " I farther found," he 
writes, " that it was a Secret that lay in very few 
Breasts in England. I determined if possible to find 
the Secret and have the pleasure to say, that after 
many tryals and considerable expense I gained it." 

These few words, no doubt, cover countless ex- 
periments and their accompanying failures; but of 
these Paul Revere took no reckoning, if success 
crowned his efforts in the end. He had that combi- 
nation of energy and perseverance which we call 
" pluck," and he never lost sight of an idea until it 
grew in a substantial reality, so the following letter 
is not surprising: 

Boston, May 24, 1794.. 
"Dear Sir: [Whom he was addressing is not 
known.] 

" I understand that there are to be two Ships 
built in this State for the General government, and 
that they are to be Coppered ; if so, they will want 
Composition bolts, Rudder braces, &c, &c. 

" I can purchase several tons of Copper here, 
and my works are fitted for such business : Should 

212 



COPPER ROLLING 

those things be wanted, and I understand by Gen- 
eral Jackson, that it is in your department, if you 
will be kind enough to give me the refusal, you will 
much oblige me. 

" I will do them as cheap as anyone, and as well. 
" Your Humble Servant, 

" Paul Revere." 

This letter, evidently written to some one high up 
in the navy, brought the desired result. The con- 
tract for the brass and copper work for the good 
ship Constitution was given to Revere, whose bill 
to the government was $3,820.33 for work worth 
many times that sum. 

It is interesting to know that such a staunch 
American had a hand in building what was then the 
staunchest ship in our infant navy. 

This vessel has a biography all its own. It was 
launched in 1797, having taken three years in the 
building, and was the first iron-clad man-of-war to 
uphold America's supremacy. We know her best 
by her nickname oi Old Ironsides, and she did good 
service in her day. In 1803 she was recoppered by 
Revere, and when the carpenters finished this job, 
which took them fourteen days, they gave " nine 

213 



PAUL REVERE 

cheers which were answered by the seamen and 
calkers, because they had . . . completed copper- 
ing the ship with copper made in the States." 

Soon after this the frigate Constitution became 
the flagship of Commodore Edward Preble, who 
sailed away in search of fame and glory in far-off 
Tripoli, and after that the good ship had many 
masters — Barron, Decatur, Rodgers and Lawrence. 
In the War of 1812, Captain Isaac Hull and after- 
wards Commodore Bainbridge rode her to victory 
over the British, and when at last Old Ironsides 
rested in the harbor she showed the scars of hard 
and bloody fighting. Her work was over, and 
many people who had more enterprise than senti- 
ment proposed to dismantle and destroy this famous 
old " sea lion," but the popular feeling was against 
it. Old Ironsides was a living war veteran, 
having served all through the War of 18 12, and 
the patriotic New Englander would far rather 
have had her lost at sea than stripped of her 
strength and splendor by a few ruthless hands on 
shore. 

At the time the question was agitated in 1830, the 
most powerful opposition came from an unexpected 

214 



COPPER ROLLING 

quarter, when a young Boston boy named Oliver 
Wendell Holmes in a burst of inspired patriotism 
penned his defiance of such desecration, and the 
school girls and boys who fail to learn these stirring 
lines have missed an important item in their educa- 
tion. Here is the poem, which settled the question : 

OLD IRONSIDES 

Ay, tear her tattered ensign down ! 

Long has it waved on high. 
And many an eye has danced to see 

That banner in the sky ; 
Beneath it rang the battle shout. 

And burst the cannon's roar; — 
The meteor of the ocean air 

Shall sweep the clouds no more ! 

Her deck, once red with heroes' blood. 

Where knelt the vanquished foe. 
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood. 

And waves were white below, 
No more shall feel the victor's tread. 

Or know the conquered knee ; — 
The harpies of the shore shall pluck 

The eagle of the sea, 

O, better that her shattered hulk 
Should sink beneath the wave; — 

Her thunders shook the mighty deep. 
And there should be her grave ; 

215 



PAUL REVERE 

Nail to the mast her holy flag, 

Set every threadbare sail. 
And give her to the god of storms. 

The lightning and the gale. 

These lines remind one of the old-time Norse 
sagas about the heroes who sailed away in their 
ships to Valhalla whither their gods called them 
when they died. This ship had no heroes aboard; 
but to the boy poet she carried them all — and his 
fiery effort to save her won the day. She made no 
more voyages, it is true, but she is honored in her 
old age, as she lies snugly moored in the navy yard 
of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 

Perhaps some memory of Paul Revere was the 
inspiration of our poet, for well he knew, being a 
Boston boy, that all the brass and copper work of the 
frigate Constitution came from the hands of that 
king of mechanics. 

This new enterprise brought Revere more work 
than ever before, but sheet copper was hard to pur- 
chase, the supply from abroad soon gave out, and it 
was then that the firm of Paul Revere and Son added 
copper rolling, and the manufacture of copper bolts, 
spikes, nails, etc., to their fast growing business. 

216 



COPPER ROLLING 

Among other things they coppered the dome of 
the new State House in Massachusetts with copper 
manufactured and rolled in their own mills, for the 
Reveres finally bought a piece of land on the site of 
the old powdermill at Canton, situated on the east 
branch of the Neponsit River which was formerly 
known as Sawmill River. 

The building of a copper rolling mill was a very 
big scheme, especially as they had to order a pair 
of copper rollers from England. In December, 
1800, Revere wrote: " I have engaged to build me 
a Mill for Rolling Copper into sheets which for me 
is a great undertaking and will require every farth- 
ing which I can rake or scrape," 

This new venture was such an expensive one that 
he was obliged to appeal to the government of the 
United States for aid in the erection of the necessary 
buildings, agreeing to pay back the $10,000 which 
he borrowed, in the manufactured copper. 

Needless to say that Paul Revere's word was as 
good as the bond he gave; the debt was soon can- 
celed and by the fall of 1801 the works were in full 
blast. Soon after, the business of casting cannon 
and church bells was also transferred to Canton 

217 



PAUL REVERE 

because the foundry in Boston had its roof blown off 
in a gale which did much damage in the city, and 
the works were ruined beyond repair. Business at 
the Revere mills grew steadily in importance. 
Revere and Son were for a long time the only manu- 
facturers of sheet copper in America and in 1802 it 
was stated on authority " that the manufacturers 
above mentioned have now ready for delivery to the 
Government of the United States, 30,000 weight of 
sheet copper for covering the bottoms of the 74 
gunships ordered some years since to be built." 

In comparison with the enormous products in our 
modern foundries these numbers seem nothing at 
all, but we must remember that the entire industry 
at that time was the result of one man's persevering 
labors in an unknown field, that the experiments he 
tried were not backed by any past experience, and 
that while he profited to a very great extent, yet 
there was always a dash of true patriotism in every 
commercial endeavor. 

That America should put her "best foot for- 
ward " was the unwavering desire of Paul Revere 
and he firmly believed that the mechanics and trades- 
men of the New World had it in their power to 

218 



COPPER ROLLING 

show England, and indeed the rest of Europe, how 
well the baby nation could take care of itself. 

Above all other feelings was his pride in his 
country; he had shown this many years ago, when, 
after the signing of the Peace Treaty of Paris, the 
thirteen original colonies decided upon the adoption 
of a Federal Constitution by which all the new-made 
states, while having their own separate state govern- 
ment and laws, should be under the general govern- 
ment — in short, a constitution such as governs the 
United States of to-day. 

Alexander Hamilton, Washington's former aide- 
de-camp and our first Secretary of State, drafted 
this Constitution which created great stir and 
mighty arguments. Many of the states had already 
agreed, but Massachusetts was slow in signing. 
She had been the ringleader of the rebellion, and her 
decision would carry much weight. Samuel Adams 
to whom the Bostonians looked for guidance had as 
yet expressed no opinion ; he was waiting as usual to 
test the temper of the people and was one of the 
Boston delegates to the Massachusetts Convention 
assembled in Boston to discuss the Constitution. 
The tradesmen of the town, gathering in great num- 

219 



PAUL REVERE 

bers at their old rendezvous, the Green Dragon Tav- 
ern, argued the question from their own practical 
point of view, resolving finally that if the Constitu- 
tion were adopted, trade and navigation would re- 
vive and increase, and employ and subsistence be af- 
forded to many of their townsmen then suffering 
for want of the necessities of life. Should it be 
rejected, " the small remains of commerce yet left 
would be annihilated ; the various trades and handi- 
crafts dependent thereon, decay; the poor be in- 
creased and many worthy and skillful mechanics 
compelled to seek employ and subsistence in strange 
lands." 

These resolutions were carried by Paul Revere 
who with John Gray presided at the meeting, and 
placed in the hands of Samuel Adams. 

" How many mechanics," asked Adams, " were 
at the Green Dragon when these Resolutions were 
passed? " 

" More, sir," answered Paul Revere, " than the 
Green Dragon could hold." 

" And where were the rest, Mr. Revere? " 

" In the streets, sir." 

" And how many were in the streets ? " 
220 



COPPER ROLLING 

" More, sir, than there are stars in the sky." 

This old Green Dragon Tavern where the Tea 
Party plot was hatched, where the old patriots met 
to vent their indignation at England's injustice and 
to plan their resistance to her unreasonable demands, 
was a fitting place in which to discuss such an im- 
portant aid to peace and prosperity, but Paul Revere 
and his associate did not stop in Boston. They had 
previously made a tour of the state addressing the 
mechanics of various towns, in short, conducting 
such a spirited campaign that in presenting the reso- 
lutions to Adams they could truthfully state that 
the unanimous vote of the people of Massachusetts 
was for the adoption of the Constitution. These 
resolutions were carried to the Convention by a 
procession, Paul Revere marching at its head. 

Dearly did our patriot love pageants and celebra- 
tions — indeed, anything which gave the people pleas- 
ure and kindled enthusiasm. 

When the vote of Massachusetts put a seal upon 
the adoption of the Constitution, there was great 
rejoicing in Boston ; the mechanics had a procession 
of the arts and trades, aided by Revere, and there 
were festivities and entertainments of all kinds. 

221 



PAUL REVERE 

Thus not only did Paul Revere have much to do 
with the building of the frigate Constitution, but it 
was partly due to his great influence with his fellow- 
townsmen that the other Constitution, that rudder to 
the Ship of State was placed in the hands of the 
nation. 

As we see, at every crisis Paul Revere's public- 
spirited interest led the people of his state in the 
right direction; yet the high public places were not 
for him. It is doubtful if he expected such rich 
rewards for service as came to the Adamses, to Han- 
cock, and to other patriotic leaders. He was given 
many positions of trust, but none of any public 
prominence, and we cannot help wondering if some 
remnant of the old class prejudice that barred trade 
from high places still hung about the new country in 
spite of its assertion that all men were born free and 
equal. The Reveres had a coat of arms and a 
family crest and seal, though for generations they 
had lived by their trade ; but as many Tories still lin- 
gered in America, perhaps the far-seeing statesmen 
thought it wiser in the beginning to respect their 
traditions. 

Probably had he been a poorer man and depend- 

222 



COPPER ROLLING 

ent on the gifts his country could bestow, he might 
have received more consideration. 

But Paul Revere was a proud man. Justice was 
the only thing he ever sued for, and that he de- 
manded not as a favor but as his right. Once in a 
while in his correspondence one may detect a bitter 
note, but he never publicly expressed his disappoint- 
ment. 

He went doggedly to work to build up a fine for- 
tune — to establish himself and his family in a sub- 
stantial business that would live after him — and he 
had stalwart sons to perpetuate his name. Far bet- 
ter off was he than John Hancock, that favorite 
of fortune, who left no children to honor his 
memory. 

The firm of Paul Revere and Son was composed 
of himself and his son Joseph Warren Revere, and 
up to within a few years of his death, the old patriot 
took an active interest in every detail. His summer 
home at Canton, Massachusetts, near the copper 
mills, was still standing, not so very long ago, 
and was used as one of the storehouses of the 
company. 

After Paul Revere's death in 1818, Joseph War- 

22Z 



PAUL REVERE 

ren Revere carried on the business until 1828, when 
it became a chartered company and its name still 
stands to-day. In his father's lifetime, during 
1804-5, Joseph Warren went to Europe, a tremen- 
dous undertaking in those days, and visited England, 
France, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden, in order 
to learn whatever there was to be known about the 
manufacture of copper. 

In 1809 Paul Revere became connected with an 
event which marked an epoch in the history of our 
progress. The firm of Paul Revere and Son fur- 
nished to Messrs. Livingston and Fulton, copper for 
two boilers to be used on the Hudson River and 
New York ferry steamboats ; " this order was for 
16,000 sheets, three feet wide by five feet in length, 
some of them weighing over two hundred pounds." 
We can readily imagine the star part those boilers 
played on that memorable day when the first steam- 
boat puffed and snorted proudly up the Hudson fol- 
lowed by the cheers of the excited crowd. 

These boilers must have given satisfaction, to 
judge by the following letter: 



COPPER ROLLING 

Boston, 7 Dec*. 1810. 
" Robert Fulton, Esq., 

" Sir, Your favur of the 3"* Inst, came duly to 
hand. We will supply you with five tons of Copper 
such as we furnished you with in 1809, at fifty cents 
per lb. 4 months Credit. It shall all be ready for 
delivery in four weeks after we receive your order. 
*' Respectfully, 

" Your humble Servt., 

" Paul Revere & Son." 

In July, 1814, the firm again contracted with 
Robert Fulton for boiler plates of copper for the 
ship of war which he was building for the govern- 
ment to use in the second war with England, for 
the fame of this enterprising firm had now reached 
far beyond the confines of its own states. 



XII 
FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES 



XII 
FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES 

HAD Paul Revere been gifted with the de- 
scriptive powers of John Adams, his 
reminiscences would have been of great 
historic value. It is true he kept a diary and a 
most business-like daybook, but his very private 
affairs and his personal friendships were not men- 
tioned in those pages. Being a member of so 
many societies before and after the Revolution, he 
naturally came into close contact with all sorts of 
men, some of whom maintained the friendliest rela- 
tions with our hero who loved his kind. He was 
one of the most popular members of the Sons of 
Liberty, where none but friends to the cause 
and to each other were supposed to congre- 
gate; it is likely, indeed, that many strong friend- 
ships were cemented during that stressful time. 
The only name recorded as an intimate friend is that 
of John Pulling, a brother Son of Liberty and, as 

229 



PAUL REVERE 

we know, supposed by some to have been the 
" friend " whom Revere asked to hang the lanterns 
for him on the night of the ride. 

Of his friendship with Joseph Warren he always 
spoke with reverence and pride, for no two men 
could have been more closely associated than they 
were in those few days preceding the Battle of Lex- 
ington, when they were left alone " to keep house " 
in Boston while the other patriots were attending 
the Provincial Congress then sitting at Cambridge. 
A warm sympathy sprang up between them, born of 
mutual admiration. Revere recognized the high 
qualities which made this New England doctor a 
leader of the people, and he gladly became his lieu- 
tenant, standing ready to aid him whenever the 
need arose. Warren, on his side, had the most im- 
plicit faith in Paul Revere. The same anxieties 
drew them together and kept them planning through 
the watches of the night. A nod from Warren and 
Revere understood — no need of words or sugges- 
tions from one to the other. Such was their per- 
fect friendship. To the end of his days Revere 
mourned the untimely death of Joseph Warren — 
for perhaps no one else so fully recognized how sin- 

230 



FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES 

cere was the patriotism of this man of the people. 
Had Warren Hved he would have seen to it that his 
trusty right-hand man was suitably rewarded, but 
his death cut short much more than his own prom- 
ising career, and many more than Paul Revere sor- 
rowed over his loss. There is no doubt that two 
such congenial spirits would always have worked 
side by side for liberty; as it was, the only tribute 
the living hero could pay the dead one, was to honor 
his memory and name his best-beloved son after his 
best-beloved friend. 

Paul Revere's was a genial nature and brought 
him hosts of friends, but such natures are often very 
reserved in the matter of intimacy and beyond his 
home the real man was little known. He had too 
big a family, probably, to take more than a general 
interest in those outside of it, and we cannot but 
marvel that so few of these family chronicles have 
come to us. He faithfully recorded the births and 
deaths of his children, but their characters are un- 
known to us, and their marriages and those innu- 
merable celebrations which have such an influence on 
the home living were never mentioned. Doubtless 
the young Reveres had their personal friends in 

231 



PAUL REVERE 

whom their father took an interest. Doubtless, at 
their weddings, he dressed his portly person in black 
velvet with black silk stockings and shoes orna- 
mented with buckles set in brilliants (such a pair 
of shoe-buckles is now owned by one of his numer- 
ous grandchildren), and cracked his jokes and made 
merry with his guests. No doubt Mrs. Rachel had 
many tea-drinkings and much society in those early 
days of the Republic, but it is hard to tell whether 
or no her husband was present. 

Another friend of many years standing was Gen. 
John Lamb of New York, with whom he corre- 
sponded during the trying days when the British rule 
pressed heavily on the colonies and who entertained 
him when he came riding into the town on errands 
for the Committee of Safety. Gen. Lamb was a 
Son of Liberty, and all Sons of Liberty were broth- 
ers whenever they met. In truth the social life he 
most enjoyed was when as a younger man he spent 
sociable evenings at the Green Dragon Tavern with 
the other Sons of Liberty — for the talk was not 
always of their country's plight. The men assem- 
bled, had their business to discuss over a friendly 
glass or two. When they entertained honored 

232 



FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES 

guests like the Adamses or Hancock they had quite 
a collation. John Adams says in his diary, " I was 
very cordially and respectfully treated by all present. 
We had punch and wine, pipes and tobacco, biscuit 
and cheese, etc." 

On such occasions Paul Revere would generally 
do the honors, for somehow the assembled carpen- 
ters, bricklayers, shipbuilders, printers, and tailors 
recognized in this brother mechanic higher gifts 
than they possessed. 

The association between Revere and the two Rev- 
olutionary leaders was of the pleasantest, but never 
reached the boundary line of intimate friendship. 

Samuel Adams was onl)rtoo prone to recognize 
the men with whom he worked merely as agents in 
the great scheme of Liberty — the means to the end. 
Paul Revere was useful as a messenger, and the 
spokesman of his people had to be heard with re- 
spect; but in after years their lives ran in entirely 
different grooves, and save in matters of moment to 
their town, they rarely met socially. Hancock, 
though a merchant prince who made his money in 
trade, was of a different order from the sturdy 
craftsman who probably made some of his silver 

233 



PAUL REVERE 

dishes with his crest and coat of arms engraved 
thereon; but there was Httle in common between 
these two men, though each one served his country 
in his own way. 

Benjamin Edes, the printer, came nearer to being 
a friend than most of the mechanics with whom 
Revere was thrown. He belonged to the firm of 
Edes & Gill, who were known as *' the patriotic 
printers," and printed several of Revere's engrav- 
ings. Many special and secret meetings of the Sons 
of Liberty took place in their office, and it was 
there that a large body of the supposed " Mohawks " 
assembled on the afternoon of December i6, 1773. 

Edes was not only a printer but also a journalist 
of some distinction. As early as 1755 he began 
with John Gill, his partner, the publication of the 
Boston Gazette and Country Journal, the patriotic 
mouthpiece of Massachusetts. During the siege of 
Boston the paper was issued at Watertown where 
Paul Revere was busy making bank notes for the 
struggling army, and doubtless these two whose 
trades were so closely associated and whose politics 
were the same had much intercourse. 

Another friend was John Scollay who was chair- 
234 



FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES 

man of the Board of Selectmen at the time when 
Mrs, Revere appHed for a pass to cross the river 
and join her husband at Charlestown, 

Paul Revere was what we would call in these 
days very democratic. If he liked and respected a 
person, no matter what his calling that person was 
his friend. As he grew to be an older man and be- 
came interested in the various organizations which 
stood for the welfare of Boston Town, he was al- 
ways particularly anxious that the mechanics should 
be well represented. He was one of the founders 
of the " Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Asso- 
ciation," was chairman at all of their meetings and 
was most eager to be the chief organizer of the Asso- 
ciation. On March 24, 1795, he gave official notice 
that " The Constitution of the Associated Mechanics 
of the Town of Boston will be ready for signing on 
Saturday next, at Mr. Ebenizer Larkin's Book- 
store." 

There were eighty-three names on this document 
and Paul Revere's name headed the list. Paul Re- 
vere, Jr., was also among the signers and each man 
set down not only his name but his trade. 

At a special meeting of these members held April 
235 



PAUL REVERE 

i6, 1795, just twenty years after the Battle of Lex- 
ington and the rides, Paul Revere was unanimously 
elected president of the Association. We can well 
imagine that this able body of men, all his asso- 
ciates and contemporaries, remembered the anniver- 
sary and toasted their comrade in brimming bump- 
ers, and that he responded with a courtly bow and 
a few well chosen words of thanks. He carried his 
sixty years very lightly ; his thick hair was silvered 
now, and his portraits show it worn in the long cut, 
curling on the collar of his " rolled back " coat. 
There was an imposing and dignified air about him 
which commanded respect. He held the post of 
president for four years, during which time the 
Association grew in power and importance and had 
a great influence upon the trade of Boston. 

This Association lasted for many years after the 
death of its founder in 1818. In 1825, during La- 
fayette's famous visit to America, it gave a dinner 
in honor of the old soldier, and one of the toasts 
on that occasion was " The memory of Paul Re- 
vere — a Boston Mechanic, who wrought zealously 
and cheerfully in the great work of Liberty." 

His portrait hangs in the president's room of the 
236 



FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES 

Association. In 1842, Benjamin Russell, then a 
very old man, spoke at a dinner given by the Asso- 
ciation in Faneuil Hall, and paid tribute to the 
memories of eight of the original members, headed 
by Paul Revere. 

Benjamin Russell in his younger days was the 
editor of the Columbian Centinel and a warm per- 
sonal friend of Revere who presented him with a 
silver snuffbox of his own workmanship and design, 
as a mark of his esteem. 

Later on, the Association bought what was known 
as the Booth property, on which they erected a 
hotel, and the house on Bowdoin Square, known as 
the Booth House, had its name changed to the 
Revere House in honor of the late Paul Revere, the 
first president of the Association. Only recently 
this Association was reorganized under the name of 
the Paul Revere Association, and a great-grandson 
of the patriot, the Hon. Frederic W. Lincoln, was 
chosen as its first president. 

Such was Paul Revere's energy and public spirit 
that in 1796 he held the office of coroner, a post 
which he filled faithfully for five years. 

In 1798 he became one of the stockholders of the 
237 



PAUL REVERE 

Massachusetts Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and 
on the charter of March 2, his name heads the Hsts. 
This was the first successful effort to insure prop- 
erty in Boston against loss by fire. This company 
is still in existence. 

Paul Revere was an enthusiastic Mason; he took 
a great interest in all their lodges and attained many 
honors in these secret societies. At the time of his 
death he had reached the very highest dignity be- 
stowed upon a Mason — that of Grand Master of 
the Massachusetts Grand Lodge — and what he did 
not know of Masonic laws and regulations was not 
worth knowing. It is difficult to define accurately 
what, these societies of freemasons really are. For 
centuries they have held men together from the far 
ends of the world. The old order of the Knights 
Templar in the days of " Ivanhoe " was something 
of this sort — a body of men banded together by 
some secret alliance. The members were always 
sworn to secrecy, and they had signs and tokens and 
emblems whose meaning was known only to them- 
selves. A man could not even confide in his wife 
concerning his Masonic doings, and there was but 
one known fixed law — a man's character had to be 

238 



FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES 

above reproach before he was admitted to any one 
of the societies. 

At the time of the Tea Party Paul Revere was a 
member of St. Andrew's Lodge (having entered the 
association as an apprentice some years before), and 
by a strange coincidence the Masons met at the 
Green Dragon Tavern which, as we know, was the 
rallying place for those Sons of Liberty who be- 
longed to the famous North End Caucus ; it is more 
than strange that on the night when the " Mo- 
hawks " brandished their hatchets in Boston Har- 
bor, the Lodge could not hold its regular meeting be- 
cause of the absence of so many of its most impor- 
tant members " on special business." 

Joseph Warren was the first Grand Master of 
the Massachusetts Grand Lodge, established 1769, 
and Paul Revere, Senior Grand Deacon, offered to 
make the Lodge " jewels " — certain emblems "of 
any metal under silver " — used in its ceremonies 
and pageants, and wait for payment until the Lodge 
was in funds. He also made some beautiful punch 
ladles, now the property of St. Andrew's Lodge. 

In 1783, after the peace, the question arose as to 
whether the St. Andrew's Lodge as it was then 

239 



PAUL REVERE 

called should owe its allegiance to Scotland or to 
Massachusetts. Twenty-nine members voted to re- 
main as they were; twenty-three were against it, 
our independent Paul Revere being among the mi- 
nority. These twenty-three men withdrew from the 
old Lodge and organized the Rising States Lodge 
with Revere as Master and his son, Paul, Jr., one of 
the officers. The diplomas of membership to this 
Lodge were engraved by Paul Revere on a very 
elaborate scale. 

The freemasons were always invited to take part 
in various state ceremonies, and on July 4, 1795, we 
find Grand Master Paul Revere and other digni- 
taries assisting Governor Samuel Adams in laying 
the cornerstone of the new state house. They met 
the state officers, headed by the Governor in the old 
state house and marched in an imposing procession 
to the Old South Meeting-House where they listened 
to an oration by " a young Republican gentleman " 
named George Blake, who from the newspaper ac- 
counts was a Hancock, a Warren, and all the other 
patriots rolled into one. Then the procession re- 
formed and escorted the cornerstone which was " on 
a truck decorated with ribbons drawn by 15 white 

240 



FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES 

horses, each with a leader " with a miHtary guard of 
" Independent FusiHers," to the site selected. 
When the stone had been put into place Governor 
Adams made a stirring speech followed by a few 
patriotic words from Grand Master Revere. 

Under the cornerstone was placed a silver plate, 
engraved most probably by Paul Revere, with the 
following inscription : 

This Corner Stone of a Building, intended for the use of the 

Legislative and Executive branches of the Government 

of the 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts 

was laid by 

His Excellency, Samuel Adams, Esq., 

Governor of said Commonwealth, 

Assisted by the Most Worshipful Paul Revere, 

Grand Master, and the Right Worshipful 

William Scollay, Deputy Grand Master, 

The Grand Wardens and Brethren of the 

Grand Lodges of Masons on the Fourth 

Day of July An. Dom. 1795. A.L. 5795 

Being the XXth Anniversary of 

American Independence. 

Then the Governor was escorted to the Council 
Chamber amid great enthusiasm. 

When George Washington died his brother Ma- 
sons of Massachusetts appointed a committee con- 

241 



PAUL REVERE 

sisting of "R. W. [Right Worshipful] Brothers 
John Warren, Paul Revere and Josiah Bartlett, Past 
Grand Masters," to write a letter of condolence to 
Mrs. Washington. In this letter they made the fol- 
lowing request: 

" To their expressions of sympathy on this sol- 
emn dispensation, the Grand Lodge have subjoined 
an order that a Golden Urn be prepared as a deposit 
for a lock of hair, an invaluable relique of the Hero 
and the Patriot whom their wishes would immor- 
talize and that it be preserved with the jewels and 
regalia of the Society. 

" Should this favor be granted, Madam, it will 
be cherished as the most precious jewel in the cab- 
inet of the Lodge, as the memory of his virtues will 
forever be in the hearts of its members. 

" We have the honor to be, with the highest re- 
spect, your most obedient servants, 

"John Warren. 

" Paul Revere. 

" JosiAH Bartlet. 
" Mrs. Martha Washington." 

This request was graciously granted and Paul 
Revere made the golden urn, three and seven-eighths 
inches high. It stands on a wooden pedestal which 

242 



FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES 

has a door with lock and key, making a safe and 
convenient resting place for the urn when it is 
not screwed on the top. On the urn is this in- 
scription : 

THIS URN INCLOSES A LOCK OF HAIR OF THE IMMORTAL 
WASHINGTON, PRESENTED JANUARY 2/, 180O, TO THE MASSA- 
CHUSETTS GRAND LODGE BY HIS AMIABLE WIDOW. BORN 
FEB. II, 1732. Ob't. DECR. 14, 1799. 

By this we see that the calendar must have altered 
somewhat, since we celebrate Washington's birth- 
day on February 22. 

The top of this little urn unfastens and the lock 
of hair is coiled under a glass. This relic is the 
special care of each Grand Master of the Lodge, 
passing from him to his successor, and has never 
gone out of their keeping. 

To honor the great dead there were funeral pro- 
cessions in all the large towns and the one In Boston 
was under the auspices of the Masons ; the big white 
marble urn used on this occasion bore this inscrip- 
tion: 

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF BROTHER GEORGE WASHINGTON, 

RAISED TO THE ALL PERFECT LODGE DEC. I4, I799 RIPE IN 

YEARS AND FULL OF GLORY. 



PAUL REVERE 

For years Paul Revere had charge of this urn, 
for from the very beginning he had worshiped 
from afar this hero of our nation. That he could 
not be closer to his person, in those days when they 
were fighting for freedom, was one of his lifelong 
regrets. 



XIII 
A RIPE OLD AGE 



XIII 
A RIPE OLD AGE 

WHEN we think of Paul Revere it is 
never as an old man, for the years fell 
upon him so imperceptibly that the 
passing of them was hard to realize. The city of 
Boston in its sturdy upward growth was always 
launching new enterprises and as long as the old 
patriot was able to take an active interest in its prog- 
ress, we find his name and can usually trace his 
influence. 

When he was seventy-one, he acted as foreman of 
the jury which acquitted Thomas O. Sel fridge of 
the charge of murder. The case was a very sensa- 
tional one; and was the result of the first political 
scrimmage in Boston. There were already two 
parties of voters, the Federalists and the Republi- 
cans, and on July 4, 1806, the rival factions held 
separate celebrations; the Federalists crowded into 
Faneuil Hall and the Republicans erected a tent on 

247 



PAUL REVERE 

Copp's Hill. A certain oriental Ambassador hap- 
pening to be in town was invited to the festivities 
on Copp's Hill. His gaudy appearance and his 
train of attendants drew a big crowd around the 
tent inclosure, which gave way, and the uninvited 
guests poured in, nearly crazing the caterer they had 
hired for the occasion who now had a multitude to 
feed. He naturally presented a large bill to Benja- 
min Austin, President of the Republican Party, and 
as he had trouble in collecting it he employed 
Thomas O. Sel fridge to sue the members of the com- 
mittee in charge of the entertainment. Sel fridge 
was a lawyer of good standing, but Austin, the 
Republican leader, made such offensive remarks 
about him that Sel fridge demanded and obtained 
an apology. 

The angry lawyer was not appeased. A hot 
newspaper fight ensued where the contending parties 
called each other names and Boston was in a " fever 
of excitement." 

Finally, Charles Austin, son of the leader, a Har- 
vard student, young and headstrong, having read an 
insulting paragraph about his father, armed himself 
with a hickory cane and waited for Selfridge to 

248 



,i il 



A RIPE OLD AGE 

come out of his office. As they met, the young man 
raised his stick and brought it down heavily on the 
lawyer's head. At the same moment Sel fridge fired 
a pistol and the shot was fatal. Sel fridge was ar- 
rested and after a most dramatic trial was acquitted 
on the plea of self-defense. 

From this time on we hear very little of Paul 
Revere in public life. He attended to his various 
business interests and took great delight in beautify- 
ing his home on Charter Street, 

For one who had led such a restless and active 
life, Revere had seldom changed his residence. 
For many years he had lived in the house on North 
Square, where many of his children were born. 
His trade as gold- and silversmith had been carried 
on in the shop on the ground floor, while his grow- 
ing family occupied the two stories above. He 
bought the property in 1770, and it was already 
nearly a century old at the time he moved into it. 
The early New Englanders did not think much of 
ornamenting their houses. This was a square struc- 
ture with no pretentions of beauty, but the fact that 
it is still standing though well on in its third cen- 
tury proves beyond a doubt that the old-time house 

249 



PAUL REVERE 

builders could give a few dots to the modern work- 
men regarding beams and flooring. It seems a 
pity that the old place has not been treasured as 
a landmark; instead, it is the center of a 
foreign population and Charles Ferris Gettemy 
has aptly called it " the most historic slum tene- 
ment in America." 

It was there that the most momentous years of 
the patriot's life were spent and it should have been 
made a sort of museum, devoted to the numerable 
relics connected with him and his work; but in 
America the hand of progress is ruthless. Years 
ago Hancock's beautiful old mansion was pulled 
down in spite of indignant protests, and every day 
we hear of similar cases in other cities. 

Paul Revere lived in the North Square house un- 
til 1788. Then he moved into the house on Charter 
Street, which he finally bought. It is described as 
" a three-story brick mansion with a garden en- 
closure and an iron fence of swinging chains. In 
the rear of the house was a spacious yard, where the 
bells were brought from the Revere foundry in the 
early days of that establishment, for testing." This 
house, too, fell in 1843 '^ the march of progress, 

250 




CO 



Oi, 



P^ 



A RIPE OLD AGE 

though the oldest inhabitants can still remember 
how it looked and where it stood. 

For over a quarter of a century this was the 
Revere homestead, and many associations clustered 
about it. Only six of his children were alive at this 
time, and Paul, Jr., his eldest son, died in 1813. 
This was a great shadow on the closing years of 
Paul Revere, but death had entered the fold so many 
times that he had learned no longer to dread its sum- 
mons. His work was well done; he was simply 
waiting in the evening of his life for his own call. 
Then suddenly, out of the clear peaceful sky, came 
another call which awoke the memories of his 
youth and stirred his blood. 

The War of 18 12 had been waging on the high 
seas for nearly two years. In 18 14, however, came 
news that Boston was threatened with a British in- 
vasion. The enthusiasm of the people rose at once 
and when it was proposed to erect fortifications on 
Noddle's Island, one hundred and fifty of the North 
End mechanics signed the following paper: 

" Boston, Sept. 8, 18 14. The subscribers, Me- 
chanics of the Town of Boston, to evince our readi- 
ness to co-operate by manual labor in measures for 

251 



PAUL REVERE 

the Defence of the Town and Naval Arsenal, do 
hereby tender our Services to His Excellency the 
Commander-in-Chief, to be directed in such manner 
as he shall consider at this eventful crisis most con- 
ducive to the Public Good." 

Revere's name headed the pledge which it is gen- 
erally believed that he drew up. Many of the sign- 
ers made good their word and assisted in the build- 
ing of the fort, which they called Fort Strong after 
(the Governor. Many boys from public and private 
schools were excused from their classes to assist in 
the work, and Messrs. P. Revere & Son received 
from John Cheverus, the first Roman Catholic 
Bishop of Boston, " thanks for having permitted the 
men in their employ to work yesterday with him at 
the fortifications, and for generously allowing them 
their usual wages as if they had been working for 
him." 

In 1815, Paul Revere lost his second wife. This 
was a hard blow for such an old man, who had left 
now only the memory of forty-two long and happy 
years ; and she had not only been a faithful helpmate 
but a good mother and stepmother. 

There is little written of this Revolutionary 
252 



A RIPE OLD AGE 

dame, the contemporary of Dorothy Hancock and 
Abigail Adams. She had scant time to set down in 
words the daily happenings of her overflowing 
household, but we have the copy of an exquisite por- 
trait medallion on porcelian painted by John Single- 
ton Copley, which shows her as she must have looked 
in the early days of the new republic. It is strange 
that, fond as he was of making engravings from 
Copley's portraits, her husband did not try to re- 
produce this picture for Mrs. Revere, while not 
beautiful, was a very striking-looking woman. 
Her death left Paul Revere very lonely; he missed 
her sorely for he had never been used to the little 
gallantries practiced by the men of his time and 
there is no record of acquaintance with any women 
outside of his own family. 

He had now come to the very edge of life; he 
could look back with much pride and fewer regrets 
than most men, was hale and hearty, and in spite 
of his eighty-odd years a boy still in heart and soul ; 
every boy in Boston knew and loved this valiant old 
patriot. 

In these closing years his son, Joseph Warren, be- 
came his business manager, but no detail of his 

253 



PAUL REVERE 

largely growing interests ever escaped his notice. 
His love centered in his home, his children, and the 
fast-growing city of Boston, for he could remem- 
ber the Boston of long ago — the primitive village 
with no sidewalks, the frame houses plain and puri- 
tanical, the meeting-houses where a bell summoned 
the people to service, the wooden piers roughly 
built for the shelter of such poor craft as the col- 
onists could muster — and had seen the gradual 
awakening. He had helped, in short, to build the 
town, and the imposing Boston in which he lived to 
the end, seemed to be the realization of his dreams. 
Little could he imagine the rapid strides which prog- 
ress would make. Electricity was but a name even 
to this skilled artisan; use of steam for travel was 
too modern an innovation to be quite in common 
service and manual labor was the lot of the indus- 
trious workmen ; labor-saving machinery was still a 
long way off. 

Yet Paul Revere and his associates " builded bet- 
ter than they knew," for their cities were founded 
upon the rock of independence. They fought for 
liberty that their children and grandchildren might 
reap the harvest. Paul Revere, like many others 

254 



A RIPE OLD AGE 

who have only their memories to keep them company 
in their old age, was fond of recalling the varied 
incidents of his career. He was particularly proud 
of his Huguenot origin which lent to the Puritan 
side of him a touch of color. The Huguenots had 
the same religious fervor and devotion to duty as 
the Puritans, but they clad their duty in gayer garb, 
added to which there was an air of breeding and 
refinement about them which the other colonists 
could not always show. " It is not surprising there- 
fore," we are told, " that they were everywhere wel- 
comed into the best classes of the settlement and that 
they left everywhere a reputation of which their de- 
scendants have a good reason to be proud." 

Another writer says : " They were almost with- 
out exception, persons of superior social standing 
and good education yet accustomed by reverses to 
labor." 

The Rivoire family had been driven from France 
by religious persecution yet the older Rivoire had 
been much put out because his son Paul chose to 
worship where he pleased. 

In later life he was a member of the New Brick 
Qiurch and there, said one of the worshipers, 

255 



PAUL REVERE 

" I used to see him as regularly as the Sabbath 
came." 

No disease marked his declining years — his 
active outdoor life as a younger man had given him 
a hardy constitution. The only recorded illness was 
the result of a severe accident. He was thrown 
from his chaise in the spring of 1800, and dislocated 
his right shoulder, from which he suffered much 
pain. 

As there is no record of a last illness, we can im- 
agine, as Dickens so beautifully expresses it, that " he 
went out with the tide," dying with those he cared 
for around him and with the peace of God in his 
heart. 



XIV 
A MEMORY 



XIV 

A MEMORY 

BCJSTON woke up one morning to find one 
of its landmarks gone. Paul Revere was 
dead. He was one of those men of strong 
vitality who make their presence felt and their ab- 
sence mourned, and Boston truly mourned, for this 
dead son of hers had been highly esteemed and 
honored during his long and useful life. Much was 
written and said of him, but as he had outlived most 
of his contemporaries his work and adventures were 
recalled by a younger generation who could remem- 
ber the deeds but not the events which called them 
forth. He had always been so staunch and true in 
his principles that he could count his friends among 
the rich and the poor, and so great was his power 
among his friends and neighbors that it was asserted 
that no one in his section of the town influenced 
more votes than he did. 

Paul Revere had a large family, which was in 
259 



PAUL REVERE 

some sort an inheritance, as he himself was one of 
a dozen children. The family tree of the Rivoires 
received its good stout Puritan branch through his 
mother, Deborah Hitchborn; through his own 
first marriage with Sarah Orne, he added yet 
another branch; from this branch sprouted forth 
eight little twigs, to keep up the tree idea; 
in other words, there were eight children by this 
marriage registered in the Revere family Bible. 
By his second wife he had also a family of 
eight children. 

He was survived by five children, only — Mary, 
the child of his first wife, and four by his second 
wife, Joseph Warren, Harriet, Maria and John. 
All married but Joseph Warren who remained single 
until after the death of his father, and " to him it 
was given by his enterprise and care to relieve his 
parents of all worldly anxiety in their declining 
years; and he remained a blessing in their house- 
hold as long as they lived. In 1821 he married 
Mary Robbins, and had a large family of children. 
Two of their sons, Paul Joseph Revere, Colonel, and 
Edward Hutchinson Robbins Revere, Surgeon of 
the Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment, were killed 

260 



A MEMORY 

during the Civil War; the one at Gettysburg, the 
other at Antietam. 

Paul Revere's string of grandchildren was even 
more imposing. There were twenty-three living at 
the time of his death and Joseph Warren added sev- 
eral more to the list of decendants. His daugh- 
ters married into the Lincoln and Balestier families, 
so the Revere pedigree as it stands to-day, has some 
blue Mayflower blood mingling with the Huguenot 
strain. 

Truly a man's worth counts in the end ; had Paul 
Revere been an ordinary mechanic or even an ordi- 
nary man, his services to his country would have 
been rewarded by some small pension and a word of 
praise from some one higher up and then lost in 
oblivion, but even among his fellow workmen his 
superior qualities were recognized. He was born 
to plan, to contrive, and to lead, and the weight of 
his influence was felt for many a long year after his 
death. He was unswerving in his loyalty to his 
country and in the one instance where his honor was 
in question he came through unscathed and his 
naturally sweet temper harbored no bitterness. His 
name has been honored in many ways. The 

261 



PAUL REVERE 

town of North Chelsea, Massachusetts, which was 
incorporated in 1848, in 1871 changed its name 
by order of the General Court of Massachusetts 
to Revere. 

A Masonic Lodge is named after him, and his 
name has been used by various manufacturing com- 
panies of high standing. 

Yet for all that, as the years passed the name and 
fame of Paul Revere grew dim as seen through the 
cobwebs of time. Little by little the personal side 
of the man was lost. People of Boston gradually 
forgot the power he was among them, and doubtless 
had they been questioned would have answered, 
** Oh, it was he who rode to Lexington to warn the 
patriots that the British were coming — " and 
brushed him aside as of no more importance. But 
it was given to one inspired man to sing his praises. 
From the moment Longfellow wrote his poem, in- 
terest in the long-dead patriot revived. The story 
of the ride read like a romance, and fired the imag- 
ination of young and old. In the schools " Paul 
Revere's Ride " became a standard of spirited read- 
ing — and two or three slips in accuracy, which the 
poet made in his effort to present the dramatic side 

262 



A MEMORY 

called forth earnest students armed to the teeth 
with historical facts to trip him up. But our poet 
only smiled; he was using his poet's license in a 
good cause; lagging interest had been revived, rec- 
ords were searched and relics were resurrected — ■ 
forgotten incidents of that long and well-spent life 
were brought to light and revived in newspapers or 
magazines — and Paul Revere stepped forth into 
his place among the immortals. Longfellow's 
poem was the bugle call which roused the people of 
Boston to a sense of their duty to their dead hero, 
and at last the city boasts of a statue of the patriot 
— on horseback, as we love to think of him, the 
pawing steed reined up as if the messenger had 
stopped a moment in his headlong gallop " to spread 
the alarm." The sculptor, Cyrus E. Dallin, has 
given us a spirited group and Boston honors herself 
in thus fitly honoring the memory of one of her 
noblest sons. It is good to think, also, that the idea 
originated among those people in whose welfare 
Paul Revere took so much interest, the representa- 
tives of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic As- 
sociation, the militia, and Masonic bodies, from 
among whom a committee was appointed to raise 

263 



PAUL REVERE 

the money ; so it stands to-day as a public tribute of 
gratitude for his lifelong service. 

It seems strange that there exists no portrait of 
Paul Revere in his boyhood and early youth. We 
can only picture to ourselves the sturdy youngster 
with his square jaw, dark hair, and keen bright 
eyes ; but we must remember at the same time that 
his boyhood was spent as his father's apprentice and 
he was nearly thirty years old before he came into 
prominence and quite forty when he took the fa- 
mous ride. 

John Singleton Copley who was a friend of the 
family painted a portrait of him, said by those who 
have been fortunate enough to see it to be the most 
characteristic of any of his pictures. It shows him 
in the prime of manhood sitting at his work-table 
surrounded by tools of every description. In his 
left hand he holds a silver tea-pot; his right hand is 
supporting his chin. He is in his shirt sleeves and 
wears a blue waistcoat — every inch of him the 
master workman proud of his trade. There are 
only two other original portraits of Revere, one by 
Gilbert Stuart which represents him in his old age, 
and a crayon portrait by a celebrated French artist, 

264 




The Gilbert Stuart Portrait of Paul Revere. 



A MEMORY 

Fevret de St. Memin, who came to America and 
traveled from state to state taking portraits of well- 
known people. 

Gilbert Stuart in his portrait has given us a 
courtly old gentleman; there is none of the stoop 
of age about his well-poised head, and his snowy 
hair never thinned to baldness. Most of his con- 
temporaries were forced early in life to wear wigs 
— not so Paul Revere — even when powdered wigs 
were the fashion he wore his own hair tied with a 
ribbon. His mouth had lost somewhat of its stern- 
ness, but the dark expressive eyes had never grown 
old. He looked like a man whose sagacity and 
courage the weight of years could never dim. 

St. Memin's portraits were usually profiles and the 
gifted artist had a way of reducing these crayons to 
medallion size and engraving them on copper. 
There were two medallions of the original crayon 
of Paul Revere, one owned by Wm. C. Lincoln of 
Hingham, Mass., a great-grandson, while the other 
belongs to the Bostonian Society. Two other great- 
grandchildren — the Misses Riddle, also of Hing- 
ham — inherited the original crayon, which gives 
one an excellent idea of v^hat Paul Revere looked 

265 



PAUL REVERE 

like in his vigorous middle age. There is the firm 
mouth, the square chin, the bright piercing eye, even 
the suspicion of a smile hovering upon his lips; a 
look of reserve strength upon the face — a look 
we could imagine he wore in the old days when 
he carried secret messages for the Committee of 
Safety. 

All the other pictures which are familiar to us — 
the Crossing of the Charles River, the Midnight 
Ride, the Arrival of Paul Revere at Lexington, 
are rather illustrations of the events than portraits 
of the hero, but they satisfy our imagination and 
tell the story of the stirring times in which he lived. 

Paul Revere died a rich man — that is, rich as 
wealth was counted in his day. His son and execu- 
tor, John Revere, valued his estate at $31,000, and 
in his last will and testament he made a fair distri- 
bution of his worldly goods among his children and 
grandchildren, disinheriting only one member of his 
entire family, Francis Lincoln, the son of his daugh- 
ter Deborah for good and sufficient reason, we may 
be sure, though as usual Revere was reticent about 
his family affairs. Those events which belonged to 
history and the public welfare he discussed freely 

266 



A MEMORY 

enough, but his family affairs never slipped out 
of the family circle — so no comment was made 
when young Francis Lincoln "eldest son of 
my late daughter Deborah" was cut off with 
one dollar. 

The closing of Paul Revere's life folded down the 
last leaf in the history of Revolutionary Boston. 
The new Boston soon became the center of Ameri- 
can letters and art. The old Revolutionary stock 
brought forth poets and preachers and philosophers 
who made a great stir in the world of thought. The 
Reveres took their places in the best circles where 
by right of birth, integrity, and enterprise they be- 
longed. Joseph Warren lived to the advanced age 
of ninety-two years and died at the Revere summer 
residence at Canton, Massachusetts. Like his 
father he had filled many offices of public trust in 
Boston, his kindly nature and old-fashioned virtues 
had won him love and respect ; he was in very truth 
" a gentleman of the old school." John Revere, the 
youngest of Paul Revere's children, was a graduate 
of Harvard University, and studied medicine under 
Dr. James Jackson. He married Lydia Le Baron 
Goodwin, and as a physician lived for some time 

267 



PAUL REVERE 

at No. 20 Hanover Street. Then he was made 
Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine in 
New York University, and became eminent in his 
position which he held until his death in 1847. It 
was his son, Gen. Joseph Warren Revere of the 
Union army, who while traveling in Europe in 1875 
found himself in the home of the ancient Rivoires 
in the neighborhood of the city of Vienne in the old 
province of Dauphine. The ruins of one of the 
old chateaux belonging to the Rivoires was still 
standing on Mont Rivoire in Romagnieu, a short 
distance from Vienne. So the seed of Paul Revere 
grew and multiplied until at the present time it 
would be quite an undertaking to add all the new 
branches to the family tree. 

In spite of the march of progress in Boston 
Town there are some landmarks that defy the touch 
of time. In the old Granary Burial Ground lies all 
that remains of Paul Revere, beneath a very modest 
monument ; there is a small slate gravestone marked 
" Revere's Tomb " and on the monument — a 
simple shaft — is the following inscription : 

PAUL REVERE BORN IN BOSTON JANUARY 1735- 
DIED MAY 1818. 

268 



A MEMORY 

He has slept for nearly a century in good com- 
pany, as the bronze tablets on the entrance gates 
bear testimony. In the old cemetery consecrated 
in 1660 are buried the victims of the Boston Massa- 
cre, March 5, 1770, the parents of Benjamin Frank- 
lin, Peter Faneuil, Paul Revere, and John Phillips, 
first Mayor of Boston. In another part of the 
ground lie John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and 
Robert Treat Paine, signers of the Declaration of 
Independence, while on the tablet is a long list of 
other noted men famous in Massachusetts history. 

They lived in stirring times — those men who 
sleep there — and those who visit the spot must feel 
in their own breasts the thrill of patriotism those 
names invoke. 

Paul Revere! We hear the hoof beats of the fly- 
ing steed and find ourselves repeating Longfellow's 
closing lines 

So through the night rode Paul Revere ; 

And so through the night went his cry of alarm 

To every Middlesex village and farm, — 

A cry of defiance and not of fear, 

A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, 

And a word that shall echo forever more ! 

For, borne on the night-wind of the Past, 

269 



PAUL REVERE 

Through all our history to the last, 
In the hour of darkness and peril and need 
The people will waken and listen to hear 
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed 
And the midnight message of Paul Revere. 









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